Elegy

(2008)

Directed by

Isabel Coixet

Review by Terry Plucknett

Something that is often fun to do (that I don’t do often enough) is go into a film not knowing anything about it.  Go in with no expectations of the quality, or even what the storyline will bring.  It makes the movie going experience that much more interesting.  This is what I did with Elegy.  I knew nothing about the movie, other than it starred Sir Ben Kingsley (whose list of recent films rivals that of the Tripod) and Penelope Cruz.  I casually viewed the trailer, not really gaining much knowledge about the movie except there is some sort of love story involving the two stars.  I had also heard from some critics that the movie was fairly good, but had no idea why.  This is how I entered the theatre for Elegy.

What I came to learn was the story centered around David Kepesh (Sir Ben), a college professor that throws a cocktail party after every semester so he has an opportunity to woo his attractive female students to bed with no threat of harassment.  The crown jewel of one such class cocktail party was Consuela Castillo (Cruz).  When Kepesh approaches Consuela to get in her pants, he realizes it will take some work to win over this young Cuban lady, who is 30+ years his junior.  He is willing to put in this extra work because she is simply worth it.  In doing this, she falls in love with him, and to Kepesh’s surprise, he falls in love with her and doesn’t know how to handle it.  Some of the pleasant breaks from the plot are conversations between Kepesh and his best friend, George O’Hearn (Dennis Hopper).  It is at this time that we get an opportunity to look inside the mind of our main character and see what he is thinking through the whole movie.  For most of the movie, Hopper’s character provides nothing more than someone for Kepesh to verbalize his inner monologue to.  A little bit of a cop out, but still effective.  There are two other minor characters that allow for breaks from the main storyline.  First, there is Patricia Clarkson’s character, who Kepesh has had a casual, physical relationship with for the last twenty years.  This storyline allows for the audience to get a glimpse at the shallow nature of Kepesh’s previous relationships before Consuela.  The other side story that gives background characterization to Kepesh is his relationship with his insecure son, played by Peter Sarsgaard.  This is definitely the weakest of the minor back stories.

This movie works in more ways than one.  First, the performances are top notch.  Ben Kingsley, although playing a character in a similar condition as his other recent movie The Wackness, gives a much better performance.  Maybe it is just more believable to see Sir Ben as a womanizing college professor than a pot smoking shrink.  Also, Penelope Cruz gives the best performance I have seen from her.  She is simply mesmerizing every moment she is on the screen.  She reminds us that there are actors out there that just need to find the right role to show how strong their talent is.  Clarkson, Hopper, and Sarsgaard give strong supporting performances, but are simply overshadowed by the brilliance of the leads.

Another strength of the movie is you are never quite sure what the movie is trying to say.  Some would say this could be a weakness, but it adds an extra dimension to the story.  It starts by focusing solely on the relationship between the two lead characters, but as the story develops and the supporting roles become more prominent, you realize it is mainly a coming-of-age story about a middle-aged man.

This movie is definitely not for everyone.  However, with strong performances and a smart, intellectual story and script, this movie is very enjoyable if you like this style.  Many people are complaining that the movie does not live up at all to the novel written by Phillip Roth that this movie was based on.  I wouldn’t know about that.  I haven’t read the book.  Taking the movie as a movie, it works.  Comparing it to the book I don’t think is fair to the movie and doesn’t let the movie stand alone.  Taking the movie for what it is, it is very worthy and enjoyable for those who enjoy this genre.

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