Elegy (2008)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Nice effects though.

Load of rubbish!!

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Ben Kingsley plays the part of 60ish (in two different respects) author, social critic, and professor David Kepesh convincingly enough, and Penelope Cruz truly shines as Consuela Castillo, a student from Cuba who becomes his lover immediately after grades have been posted. I started to get bored during the middle portions and almost quit watching. Yet, there is a quietly compelling quality to this film that caused me to stay with it. While there's not much in the way of reversals or dramatic action, ELEGY is about real people confronting common dilemmas regarding beauty, aging, and mortality. The dialogue is elegant and meaningful; nevertheless, it's nothing larger-than-life: Just about anyone will be able to relate to the obsessions, suspicions, and tender moments that haunt this romance. The cover and title make it look awfully sad but, while it's no comedy per se, it's often funny and generally far less melancholy than it could have been. There's also some sex, although ELEGY's nothing that many people would want to sit through just for a cheap thrill.On the down-side, the relationship between Castillo and Kepesh is hard to buy in places, and it all seems to happen just a bit too quickly and easily. The fact that he's much older than her is obviously a critical part of the story, but what she really sees in him is never made entirely clear. Still, the good acting, filming, and everything else will probably make it easy enough for most people to at least partially suspend disbelief.

The plot: A celebrated professor falls in love with a student 30 years younger than him.I wasn't sure that I wanted to watch this movie, even though it's got a great cast. I've never been drawn to Philip Roth, though I can't say that I dislike his writing, because I've never read any of his books. The subject matter and themes don't really excite me. So, with some degree of skepticism and pessimism, I saw down to watch Elegy.Much like the protagonist, this movie is exploitative, with pretensions toward High Art. Elegy is a story about Love, Lust, the Human Condition, Aging, and other melodramatic concepts with capital letters. Middle-aged men are likely to find it insightful, real, and powerful. Others may see it as nothing more than a fantasy for old men. There are elements of truth to both interpretations. I lean more toward the latter, but it was still a well-made movie, with quite a few good actors.I can't say that I'm any more likely to read Philip Roth's books, but I can now say that I understand the draw that some people feel toward his themes. I have a certain degree of tolerance for melodrama and pretentious writing (being a fan of some Gothic Romanticism), but my own tastes tend to veer more toward postmodernism and pulp (with Stephen King being a prominent guilty pleasure). Neurotic, insecure, old men jealously obsessing over young women doesn't really appeal to me on an artistic level, though I suppose this is probably as good a story can be told about such an idea.

if Penelope Cruz ever lost some fans it because of this film elegy this film is pure junk see the plot now Ben Kingsley an old man who loves sex & chases young women lays his eyes on hot student the story then gets extended & then sex scenes comes with Penelope showing her naked breasts like some wwe wrestler then comes some gross kissing & more insult for the viewers he is having all that in someone Else's house.i am embarrassed to write a review here this is some shameless.please throw the team into jail for this porn film.as a Cruz fan i am not disappointed because it her style to be sexy & in her most career she did films that promotes sexual & vulgar stuff.don blame her at all she needed some serious money.& Ben is the worst actor ever old guy cant act loves to have sexy only.so for die hard Penelope fans around the world ill tell you this movie does not exist just pretend to believe it.my rating is 1/10 .these guys should hang their heads in shame

Elegy (2008)I happened to have read the novel that led to this movie, by Philip Roth, who I had always admired, at least in theory (not all his works are equal, for sure). But I was really repulsed the single minded old man lust of the original story. And I was equally unconvinced that a young (and necessarily beautiful) woman would need and be satisfied by that lust to some kind of simplistic narcissistic degree. It's rare I hate a novel that might at least be well written, and I found myself hating the movie for the same reasons. So to temper things, I'll say that both Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz are superb in their roles. Kingsley as the lonely professor hitting on a young and vulnerable college student is subtle and convincing. And Cruz as that returning (slightly older) student in her odd obsession with this man, and then with a personal tragedy that falls on her, and between them.But that might be the extent of my entry here. There are issues here that are interesting, the first being a relationship built on physical love (and appreciation, in some non-aesthetic sense but relating strictly to beauty) from the man, and on a more cultural appreciation and almost adoration on her part (he shows her high culture). And those are elements in many relationships. But what about the rest of their lives, the psyches? Is this just a fulfilling of two defined needs, one to the other in vary different but compensating ways?Maybe. But then the movie doesn't make enough of it. Oh, sure, we get Kingsley's worldly confidence and education, and we get an eyeful of Cruz's physical beauty, all of it, and so in literal terms the movie goes where the book does. But it is told with linear simplicity. Interspersed are some really painful old man "guy talk" sections, at regular intervals, and the other guy, improbably played by Dennis Hopper, is really just a kind of non-comic relief from the other simple story.There is true tragedy by the end, and if you know anyone who has had breast cancer, or had to deal with disfigurement, there might be a small sense of recognition, that very palpable feeling that appearances matter. But a more likely feeling will be one of poison and cheapness, that the movie (and Roth) exploit a deeply disturbing psychological and almost spiritual issue, about identity and wholeness, and about survival, with enormous insensitivity and superficial ignorance. I know there will be those who understand the movie's point of view, but I think there are more who will not.Oddly enough, the director is a woman (though Roth, of course, is not, and he wrote his book as an older man after years of teaching literature at a college, and the screenwriter is also a man). A puzzling and unrewarding movie.