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Synopsis:
Like director Isabel Coixet's
previous film MY LIFE WITHOUT ME, ELEGY is consumed by the
ideas of love and mortality. But while that film focused on
a young protagonist, the hero of this drama is an aging
writer and professor played by Ben Kingsley. David Kepesh
(Kingsley) is a minor literary celebrity in New York City
who shies away from commitment, happy with his casual
relationship with a businesswoman (Patricia Clarkson) who is
rarely in town. But a date with a stunning grad student
named Consuela (Penelope Cruz) surprisingly turns into a
long-term romance, changing David from a confident Lothario
into a jealous boyfriend. His age and her beauty haunt their
romance until David begins to push her away. As its title
suggests, ELEGY achieves a perfectly somber tone. Adapted
from the Philip Roth novel THE DYING ANIMAL, the script from
Nicholas Meyer (THE HUMAN STAIN) doesn't try too hard for
the audience's tears. But much of the credit goes to the
cast: Kingsley and Cruz make for a sexy, affectionate couple
with their layered performances, and Clarkson (THE STATION
AGENT) is wonderful as always. Dennis Hopper is nicely cast
as David's philandering friend George, and Blondie
frontwoman Deborah Harry is very non-rock-and-roll (but
incredibly genuine) in a small appearance as George's
longsuffering wife. The largely classical soundtrack further
adds to the film's contemplative mood.
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