Review

Review Date: 24-August-08
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Elegy (2008)

Elegy got me thinking about trappings. To all appearances it is a highbrow art film about mature and weighty subjects, but upon reflection I realized it is a standard bit of melodrama in the "gather ye rosebuds" vein. This is not to say it lacks merit, just that its merit does not reside where the casual viewer might expect. Based on a novella by Philip Roth, it concerns a literatus in his sixties (Sir Ben Kingsley) who has avoided intimacy all his life. Having abandoned a wife and son years ago, this man, David, enjoys an unobtrusive sexual alliance with a woman who is rarely around (Patricia Clarkson) and convinces himself he is still vital by courting the admiration of university students. One of these is a Cuban immigrant named Consuela (Penélope Cruz) whom he pursues with uncharacteristic fervor and succeeds in winning. But then he does not know what to do with her. While she opens up to him slowly and sincerely, he can only gawk at her beauty, grow possessive, and fret that their age difference means she must leave him for a younger man. Neither understanding nor trusting love, he lets it go. Afterwards, even when he reconnects with Consuela, he learns that opportunities for love should never be wasted.

Now, if this movie starred Richard Gere and Rachel McAdams (Americans instead of Europeans), dropped fewer mentions of Shakespeare and Goya, and made the protagonist's best friend a lawyer instead of a poet, it would not seem nearly as highbrow. Truly artistic movies earn the label by being profound or innovative, whereas Elegy only looks artistic because its characters are cultured and its settings swanky. This dawned on me when contemplating Dennis Hopper as David's best friend and Debbie Harry as the friend's long-suffering wife. Although Hopper is fine as a randy, Pulitzer Prize-winning chorus of sorts, this casting suggests a filmmaker so conscious of concocting a highbrow dish that she attempts to flavor it with the spice of hipness. It is a bit awkward, like watching couples in cufflinks and diamonds trying the latest line dance on a cruise ship.

Yet putting aside the superficiality, which is not distasteful to behold, Elegy boasts two substantial assets in its stars. Kingsley nails both the brusqueness that has shielded David from encumbrances like his son (Peter Sarsgaard) and the childlike confusion that affection causes in his breast. Playing a very different character than in this month's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cruz gracefully navigates the stereotypes of feminine ideal (sensual, enigmatic, fit to drive men mad) and tragic heroine. Their performances have more depth than their characters' situations. Most people do not look this polished when they are growing old, dying, and experiencing inner turmoil, but the actors let you feel their pain.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.