DiCaprio, Winslet give tense view of love and marriage

MANY will want to see Revolutionary Road for Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, making their first appearance together since Titanic

Tense view of love and marriage

MANY will want to see Revolutionary Road (Saturday, 9.30pm, SBS One) for Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, making their first appearance together since Titanic.

Others will be hoping that British director Sam Mendes can repeat his Oscar-winning success with American Beauty, his definitive account of angst and despair in affluent middle-class America. Adapted from Richard Yates's novel, Revolutionary Road traces the souring relationship of a young New York couple in the supposedly optimistic suburban climate of the 1950s. It's tense, perceptive and beautifully acted by an ensemble cast.

For another view of the perils of love and marriage, there's Jack Clayton's The Pumpkin Eater (Monday, 2am, ABC1), with a script by Harold Pinter from Penelope Mortimer's novel. Anne Bancroft is Jo, a divorced mother of six who discovers that her new husband (Peter Finch) is an incurable philanderer. And, oh dear, a seventh child is on the way. This fine film was one of the highlights of British realist cinema in the 1960s.

Four Holidays (Friday, 8.30pm, Nine) was released everywhere else in the world under its original title, Four Christmases, the change in Australia presumably a gesture to political correctness in our multicultural society. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a sophisticated couple who make it a rule to avoid family Christmas celebrations. Though much in love, they have strong views on the destructive influence of families on human relationships, and (unlike Anne Bancroft in The Pumpkin Eater) are determined not to marry and have seven children. Whenever such attitudes are expressed in Hollywood comedies I find they are usually overturned in the final scenes, when the characters succumb to the allure of hearth and cradle. Anyway, it's funny and I enjoyed the scene when the couple are recruited at short notice to play Mary and Joseph in a school nativity play.

Not another rerun of Casablanca (Saturday, 4.20pm, Gem)? Yes, indeed; and I feel bound to give another mention to everyone's favourite Hollywood movie. This week's other certified classic is The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Thursday, 1.25am, ABC1), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's tender salute to a doomed British officer class, as personified by Roger Livesey in perhaps his greatest performance. In another acting tour de force, Deborah Kerr plays the three women in his life. I put it among the glories of British cinema: epic in scale, infinitely touching and humane.

The Pumpkin Eater (M) 4.5 stars

Monday, 2am, ABC1

Revolutionary Road (M) 3.5 stars

Saturday, 9.30pm, SBS One

Four Holidays (M) 3 stars

Friday, 8.30pm, Nine