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USA 2008
Directed by
Isobel Coixet
113 minutes
Rated MA

Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
4 stars

Elegy

Synopsis: Literature professor David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) makes a habit of throwing an end of year party and seducing one of his younger students. He never gets too involved with them and he has his occasional and convenient sexual partner of 20 years, Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson). But when David sets his eyes upon the beautiful Consuela (Penelope Cruz), things change, as the strong-minded girl genuinely falls for him, and he for her, but he can’t commit, feeing too threatened by their age difference. Ultimately however he will be called upon to decide what is really important in life.

Some critics are devaluing this film as typical of the-old-lecher-and-young-girl fantasy in which author Phillip Roth (upon whose book it is based) delights. That may well be, but I feel strongly that there is a freshness here as the tables are turned, in that Consuela really knows what she wants of life and men, and it is she who carries the weight in this relationship.

A strong element of self-aware reality floats through the consciousness of Kepesh as he narrates his feelings, fears and desires throughout. As he confesses the jealousy he feels about the possibility of Consuela being snatched by a younger man he reflects “I was once that young man” and recognises that Carolyn, being nearer his age, “is my only point of contact with the self-confident man I used to be.”

There is also plenty of self-deprecating humour here as the aging Prof is teamed delightfully with his old friend and writer George O’Hearn, played sympathetically (surprise, surprise!!) by Dennis Hopper. Together the two aging blokes hit the squash court, discuss their lives and conquests (George cheats on his wife) and urge each other to forget about growing old.

Another poignant aspect to the plot is the strained relationship between Kepesh and his son Kenny (Peter Sarsgaard). Kenny has reviled David for years for the pain his mother went through when David left them, but now comes to his father to discuss affairs and infidelity.

Cruz has been nominated and has already won several awards for this performance. I always thought her more at home in Spanish-speaking roles but here she triumphs as the delicate yet tough Consuela, and the amazing turns of fate that her character faces at the end (which I wont reveal) are yet more proof of the depth of emotion Cruz brings to her roles. Let’s not also forget the perfection of her sensuous body, which is shown to great effect, and described by Koresh as “a work of art”. Kingsley manages to balance a level of cocky and predatory self-assuredness with an underlying sensitivity and almost vulnerability.

Gorgeous Patricia Clarkson shows how a middle-aged woman can be really sexy. Her bedroom scenes sizzle and her Carolyn is in starkly mature contrast to the men around her. It’s a great surprise to see iconic Hopper in a more human role than he is generally known for. Again the issues of age and vulnerability crop up for this character, and some scenes surprise with their intensity.

The fact that a woman directed this film lends a different slant to the whole theme of older men behaving badly and I feel that there is an insight and sensitivity that a man might not have brought to the direction. Is was indicated by her 2002 film My Life Without Me Coixet has the ability to get inside the female psyche and be intensely in tune with emotions borne of trauma. Her probing insights here, combined with her good grasp of and even empathy for the nature of men, makes for a film which I found extremely moving and truthful.

Note: Interestingly the title of the Roth novel was The Dying Animal, implying that the elegy is for the death in a man’s life of his predatory libido, the “animal” being replaced with something more enduring.

 

 

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