Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elegy: A Tour de Force, September 21, 2008
When I saw this movie - which in itself was not an easy task because it was relegated to obscure theaters at inconvenient times - only six other people were present. Clearly this movie was not made with popular appeal in mind. No guns, no CGI, no well-cued schtick and obvious dialog. Just stunningly acute direction and acting that takes the breath away.
I have never seen a film containing so much pain yet so beautifully delivered. Kingsley and Cruz turn in exquisite performances, though of course Kingsley dominates as the eternally commitment-shy academic David. It is a testimony to Kingsley's power as an actor that he enables us first to feel sympathy with David's desire to seduce his student, and then sympathy with his moral and emotional equivocation, and finally sympathy with the utter devastation that comes from the loss of his beloved.
Aside from the scenes in which David interacts with his estranged son - scenes that really could have been deleted without harming the film in any way - there is never a spare moment. This is a movie about isolation, loneliness and desire - the desire for contact, connection, and ultimately for hope. It is spare, terse, and under-stated. Unfortunately we do not live in a time when these virtues are appreciated, and many professional reviews have been very wide of the mark with their myopic criticisms.
The direction of the movie is light and assured, a million miles from the heavy-handed journey-work of most directors. Nothing is over-emphasized. Kingsley turns in what must be one of the top two or three performances of his career. The movie assumes an intelligent audience - perhaps the reason why so few people have actually seen it, and why fewer still have appreciated its richness. But for anyone who enjoys film-making at its very best, this is a must-have for the DVD or BlueRay collection.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic! A+, September 6, 2008
The movie was FANTASTIC to say the very least! A true must see film. Performances were great...along with a great script and directing. If this film doesn't move you, then there is something wrong. A true take on the process of aging and impact it has on life decisions and happiness.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sexy Beast's Cuban Mistress Crisis., August 23, 2008
Spanish director Isabel Coixet's (Paris, Je T'Aime) poignant drama, Elegy, is based on the Philip Roth novel, The Dying Animal, the third in a trilogy of David Kepesh novels; the preceding two novels are The Breast (1972) and The Professor of Desire (1977). The exquisite film stars Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast) as David Kepesh, a British intellectual and celebrated literature professor, who, despite his cultural insights into life, art, New York City, and music, is inacapable of understanding the meaning of emotional commitment. Now in his 70s, Kepesh remains vexed by a purely sexual relationship he had at age 62 with a voluptuous, 24-year-old Cuban student, Consuela Castillo (played by Penélope Cruz), knowing at the time that this relationship could indeed be his last. What makes this film so poignant is that eight years after their sexual liason, Consuela delivers some dramatic news which transforms this intensely erotic love story into a much deeper lesson on mortality. While Cruz may be too old to play a 24-year-old student, only a gifted actress like Cruz can deliver the performance that ends Coixet's film with all the emotional payoff of Roth's novel. As the student becomes the teacher, Elegy shines with warmth, wit and intensity. Penélope Cruz is radiant. Elegy (and Woody Allen's newest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) reveal that she can indeed bring an outstanding performance to film without subtitles, and supporting performances from Dennis Hopper (Kepesh's best friend, George O'Hearn), Patricia Clarkson (Kepesh's betrayed mistress, Carolyn), Peter Sarsgaard (as Kepesh's estranged son), and Deborah Harry's (as Hopper's wife) are all memorable. There are many reasons this is a great film.
G. Merritt
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