Elegy
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Actor: Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, Penelope Cruz, Peter SarsgaardBrand: KINGSLEY,BEN
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-03-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Elegy
DVD Review: A touching film about love, age and sex! Wonderful performances by Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz.
Summary: 4 Stars
A touching film featuring a wonderful performance by Ben Kingsley!
"Elegy" is based on a novel titled "The Dying Animal" by Philip Roth, known for several novels he has written since the 1960's which include "The Human Stain" (1984) and "Goodbye Columbus" (1969), the film's screenplay is by Nicholas Meyer who wrote the screenplay for Roth's novel "The Human Stain" in 2003 and directed by well-known French writer and director Isabel Coixet ("Invisibles", "Paris, Je t'aime", etc.).
Ben Kingsley plays the role of David Kepesh, a well-respected cultural critic, author, radio host and college professor and has lived in a state of "emancipated manhood".
Known for his romantic conquests (especially with his college students), Kingsley and his best friend George O'Hearn (Dennis Hopper) often discuss their lives of being middle-age and marriage or divorce and how to stay happy. Especially sexually with your wife or as you grow older.
David is not the type of man who commits to a woman, he continues to have a sexual relationship (for over two decades) with a former student Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson), who visits Kepesh everytime she's in town. His relationship with his estranged son Kenneth (Peter Sarsgaard) is as cold as ice despite the two trying to find ways to have a relationship. But for David, he learned from his last marriage that he's not the marrying or committing type.
But life changes for David one day as his student Consuela Castillo (Penelop Cruz) catches his attention. Adoring her body as a work of art, the two develop an erotic relationship in which in one instance, he knows that she's the best he's had sexually and even on a personal level. But the fact that he is 30-years-older than her, he feels that with the evolution of life, with her being so young, she will eventually find a young man and move on. He is so interested in her but he feels that he needs to distance himself from her and not get too close.
But that's not the case for Consuela.
Despite having relationships and dating other men, she is passionately in love with David and to her, age has no boundaries and she tries her best to have him love her. Not just for the sex or her body but to love her completely.
Thus, David Kepesh is in a situation he has never been in before. His thoughts on growing old and not wanting to commit to anyone is being tested by this young woman who wants to be loved and he knows he has deep feelings for her but will he allow himself to be in love?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"Elegy" is featured in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Picture quality is pretty good and a nice contrast of brightness from outdoor scenes to the darker tones when David Kepesh is alone in his room.
Audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 but the film is primarily a dialogue-based film. Front channel audio, easy to understand and quite clear.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are two special features on the "Elegy" DVD. Included are:
* Audio Commentary - This commentary features optional audio commentary with Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer. There are quite a bit of pauses but Meyer does provide insight on scenes that he changed from the novel to the screenplay. For example, why Kenneth Kepesh is a doctor and why he used silence in certain parts of the film.
* "The Poetry of Elegy" Featurette - A short 5-minute featurette featuring interviews with director Isabel Coixet, Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and Dennis Hopper. Showing behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the talent in regards to working with each other and being a part of this film.
JUDGMENT CALL:
"Elegy" is a film about men who grow older, enjoyed their sexual past but want to continue that even as they grow older. But it's when they start to discover whether or not they can still be happy being with that one person forever.
There are simply many layers to the character of David Kepesh but the film works with it's supporting characters. Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson do a wonderful job in providing another perspective of two individuals who handle things differently as they grow older but it's just the inner turmoil of Kepesh that keeps the film interesting. As for Penelope Cruz, she does a very good job as Consuela and as she begins as a student and then eventually when she enters her late 20's or early 30's.
I will say that the film goes at a slow pace but it's a pacing necessary to show Kepesh's strength and weaknesses as a man, despite accomplishing so much in his professional life, his personal life is a bit different. And to see his relationship with Consuela become so passionate and erotic but then developing into more than that and he becomes conflicted with his emotions.
In a way, I'm not sure if younger viewers can appreciate the film on a level of those who have grown older and have similar feelings and emotions as these characters. I've read reviews from those who were older and felt the film was spectacular and those who were younger and felt the film was too slow and boring for them.
Personally, for me, I definitely can understand the perspective of both Kepesh and O'Hearn's characters. I don't know how many times I've had conversations with men and women, of similar age, that one would remember how things were when they were young and how things change when they got older. But depending on one's perspective in life and how they live their lives and how they can make the best out of it.
"Elegy" is a film that I really enjoyed. It may not be for everyone but nevertheless, I was truly entertained.
Description of Elegy
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 17-MAR-2009
Media Type: DVD
There are very few men who wouldn?t eagerly sell their souls to be with Penelope Cruz (or whatever character she happens to be playing). But with Elegy, director Isabel Coixet and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer (adapting a novel by Philip Roth) pose some thorny questions: How many are willing, let alone able, to see past a woman?s beauty and embrace her true being? And when beauty fades, what then? David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) is a successful New York author, teacher, and literature maven; a semi-celebrity due to regular TV appearances, he?s self-satisfied if not exactly smug, seemingly unconcerned about his advancing age (he?s now in his sixties, but as he tells us in voice-over, "In my head, nothing?s changed") or his strained relationship with the son (Peter Sarsgaard) who still resents him for abandoning his marriage years ago, and content with his occasional and purely sexual relationship with a middle-aged businesswoman (Patricia Clarkson). All of that changes when Consuela Castillo (Cruz) enrolls in one of his classes. More than 30 years his junior, she?s not just gorgeous but mature and smart as well. And for all his worldly cool, charm, and experience, once he?s involved with Consuela, David turns into just another possessive, jealous, obsessed ("On the nights she isn?t with me, I am deformed"), and insecure man, convinced that it?s only a matter of time before their age difference pulls them apart. It?s a given that David will see to it that his self-fulfilling prophecy comes true. But will his lies and fear of commitment prove to be his ruination, or will the tragedies that ensue help him find a path to redemption? The film?s various performers (including Dennis Hopper as David?s best pal) and overall sophisticated, grownup tone, along with Cruz?s almost impossible beauty, make Elegy consistently watchable and compelling. --Sam Graham
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