American Beauty is an American drama directed by Sam Mendes. The connecting themes in the film are what make American Beauty a masterpiece. One of the key components in causing the multiple themes to connect is the use of cinematography. There are more than a few visual elements within the film that cause the viewer to connect certain motifs. Most of them are not necessarily meant to be consciously noticed but assist in conveying the primary messages meant to be communicated. One of the more obvious uses of cinematography in American Beauty is the placement of the roses throughout the film. The roses represent desire, passion, and possibly lust. Traditionally, the color red represents these emotions as well. Also, the most evident use of the roses is to represent Lester’s desire for Angela. The first time the roses are seen in the film are in Lester’s daydream of Angela during the dance routine at the high school. Whenever he is lustfully thinking about her, the roses are seen. Also, in the final scene when Lester and Angela almost have the sexual encounter that Lester has always fantasized, there is a vase of roses placed on the table in the room. When they are approaching each other the roses stand in between them portraying the mutual desire for each other between the two. There is also a scene where Carolyn is cutting rose stems. This could possibly represent that she is the wall between Lester and his lustful desires or that she has cut all passion away within their marriage, leaving it dry and morbid. The last time the roses are seen is right before Lester is murdered. He had just arrived at the peak of his progressive epiphany that he slowly neared all the way through the film. He had just had the opportunity to satisfy his obsessive lust over Angela and realized that it wasn’t actually worth what he imagined. He left the room where Angela was and sat down at a table and looked at photos of his family. The roses are right