Elegy (2008/I)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Isabel Coixet

Writers (WGA):

Nicholas Meyer (screenplay)
Philip Roth (novel)

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Cultural critic David Kepesh finds his life -- which he indicates is a state of "emancipated manhood" -- thrown into tragic disarray by Consuela Castillo, a well-mannered student who awakens a sense of sexual possessiveness in her teacher.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Friend | Professor | Critic | Poet

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Penélope Cruz	...	Consuela Castillo
Ben Kingsley	...	David Kepesh
Dennis Hopper	...	George O'Hearn
Patricia Clarkson	...	Carolyn
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Kenny Kepesh
Deborah Harry	...	Amy O'Hearn
Charlie Rose	...	Charlie Rose
Antonio Cupo	...	Younger Man
Michelle Harrison	...	2nd Student
Sonja Bennett	...	Beth
Emily Holmes	...	1st Student
Chelah Horsdal	...	Susan Reese
Marci T. House	...	Administration Nurse
Alessandro Juliani	...	Actor #3 in Play
Tiffany Lyndall-Knight	...	Actor #2 in Play

Also Known As:

Elegy: Dying Animal (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #43893) | Ireland:16 | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:Btl | Austria:12 | Germany:12 | UK:15 | South Africa:16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:M | Mexico:B15 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Lakeshore Entertainment

Quotes:

George O'Hearn: Beautiful women are invisible.
David Kepesh: Invisible? What the hell does that mean? Invisible? They jump out at you. A beautiful woman, she stands out. She stands apart. You can't miss her.
George O'Hearn: But we never actually see the person. We see the beautiful shell. We're blocked by the beauty barrier. Yeah, we're so dazzled by the outside that we never make it inside.

Movie Connections:

References North by Northwest (1959)

Soundtrack:

Horizon Variations

Ben Kingsley gives another Oscar-worthy performance

'Elegy' is a small, yet powerful film for adults. Focusing on a relationship between a well-respected college professor (Ben Kingsley) and his former student (Penelope Cruz), 'Elegy' shows the audience a multi-faceted, complex man whose past experiences with women and his own family have dampered his ability to participate in a healthy relationship with a woman he is truly infatuated with.

The film was carried by a masterful performance by Kingsley, who successfully portrayed Kepesh as a complex man with complex relationships. His desire and lust for Cruz was so emotional and real that I believed it for every second until the very end. Kingsley was able to spark empathy with the audience as a victim of numerous losses in his life: his wife, family, son, best friend, love interest (Cruz), and most importantly, it was his loss of youth that made Kepesh the man he is when we first meet him.

I truly believed his internal struggles with adapting to life as a man romantically involved with a much younger woman (30 years his junior).