Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio: 5 Ways Their Onscreen Love Is Stronger On Revolutionary Road

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are famous for their big screen love stories – but was Titanic better than Revolutionary Road?
When the movie Revolutionary Road came out in 2008, fans couldn’t wait to see another Winslet-DiCaprio love story. Needless to say, Titanic was a huge hit back in the ’90s and, to this day, it is still considered one of the most romantic stories ever told on film. And that’s why comparisons between these two feature films, as far as this duo’s love is concerned, are inevitable.

While these movies are very different in almost every aspect regarding the setup, time-frame, and plot between these characters, there’s also a lot of similarities about their characters’ personalities, dreams, and struggles. The 2008 movie makes viewers feel nostalgic about the classic that came out in 1997. Eleven years later, the actors reunited to play a second romantic plot. But even with their differences, is Rose and Jack’s love (on Titanic) as strong as April and Frank’s (on Revolutionary Road)? How do these compare to each other?

Revolutionary Road: It Is More Realistic

Let’s face it: for as much as Titanic has won the hearts of thousands of fans, this love story takes place in very unusual circumstances, one where all the characters are crossing an ocean on a boat and everyone is completely out of their day-by-day real life. While it’s surely a dreamy scenario for a passionate and intense romance, the set up on Revolutionary Road has more relatable circumstances.

Titanic: It Goes Against All Odds

Most viewers would argue that few movies can live up to the iconic Titanic. The majority of people would agree that this picture is a cultural landmark. The ’90s wouldn’t have been the same without it. As fans know, Jack and Rose started a romance and hid it from everyone because they knew that everything about it was against the status quo. Yet, there came a time when Rose defied her family and her supposed duties, in the name of love. But on Revolutionary Road, their relationship starts in a much more casual scenario and is free to simply blossom. There are fewer challenges to overcome and, therefore, it seems less romantic.

Revolutionary Road: Social Norms Are Less Impactful On Their Relationship

On Revolutionary Road, the 1950s married couple April and Frank are able to solidify their relationship over the years as a result of their choice to stay together. They got married, had two kids, and were about to plan a new adventure living in Europe. Even though there’s a certain set of expectations of behaviors that their friends and family members wanted them to live up to, these are far less impactful than the ones Jack and Rose would have faced if they had had the chance to create their own family.
On Titanic, viewers get to see a love being born in an earlier time, where social norms were far more restrictive and demanding to follow. This was especially true for women, as most people know.

Titanic: One Dies For The Other To Live

Dying for someone else to live has got to be the ultimate proof of love. On Titanic, Jack helps Rose float on top of a door so that she doesn’t have to be in the frozen water. He does so to his detriment to make sure that his beloved stays alive and safe. There’s no question that this shows a heartbreaking reality of what a strong love can do and fans see Jack calmly surrendering to his fate. This might have been a doomed romance but it is one that people will never forget (and as singer Céline Dion would suggest, fans’ hearts had to go on).

Revolutionary Road: A Husband And Wife

It’s pretty obvious that going through a marriage and having a relationship for several years is very different from experiencing a short-lived romance while on a cruise. So, one could argue that by this fact alone, April and Frank have certainly had a stronger love story on Revolutionary Road. A husband and wife go through all the highest highs but also the lowest lows and, on Titanic, fans don’t have enough time to see how Jack and Rose’s relationship would have developed.