 Based on the reviewer's description of Lester and his family, what is their likely socioeconomic status?
Apparently, Lester doesn't realize that snipped roses are garden-variety symbols of castration, or he'd know what he has lost. But the makers of American Beauty are about to give Lester his roses back. Ambient noise falls away, the crowd disappears, and there she is, Lester's angel, writhing in slow motion--just for him. A hotshot English theater director (his Cabaret revival is still on the boards in New York), Mendes gives the film a patina of New Age lyricism and layer upon layer of visual irony. Aided by his cinematographer, Conrad Hall, and editors, Tariq Anwar and Chris Greenbury, he creates an entrancing vision of the American nuclear family on the verge of a meltdown.
 Middle class
 Below poverty level  Blue collar  White collar  Middle class