TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

miss_lady_ice-853-608700 It's quite slow-paced- perhaps a bit too slow-paced- but the film does have its charms.Ben Kingsley plays David Kepesh, an ageing lecturer who seduces his students. His mid-life crisis is quite tragic to watch, as he pushes away twenty-four-year-old mature student Consuela (Penelope Cruz), despite their love for each other.This is a nice tale about age-gap relationships and whether they can ever work, and about the attempts to find love and settle down when you're in your fifties. The ending is a little melodramatic but the film's not a bad watch, even though the sight of Ben Kingsley topless is not something you'll really want to see.

Matt Kracht 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.

Mihaela_Lacramioara I totally loved this movie. I am really surprised it wasn't more popular.... or maybe it was but I didn't know :) This is the kind of movie that proves it isn't a high budget and special effects that make a great film.The acting is superb. Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz made a great pair. The movie sets you in kind of an anxious nervousness the whole time and you can see the wrong decisions being made. It's a romance film that keeps you on your toes.I'm not sure if I was happy or sad at the end but I might have cried a little :) If you haven't seen it already, see it.

gelman@attglobal.net Penelope Cruz is 10 years too old for the role, but she's plausible as a 22-year-old and surpassingly beautiful. Ben Kingsley is a formidable actor. And both Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson are excellent. Although it may be difficult to understand why a gorgeous young girl like Consuela Castillo (Cruz) would fall in love with a professor 30 years her senior, Kingsley makes it believable. And with the presence of Patricia Clarkson as the professor's sometimes lover of many years and Dennis Hopper as a sage (?) old poet and friend, the eventual cooling of the passionate relationship seems quite natural. But when it turns out that Consuela has breast cancer and reinserts herself into the professor's life, we are in maudlin Love Story territory and the movie simply cannot carry the weight. Why? Because, while she is a or maybe the major character, the story is really not about Consuela but about the professor coming to terms with his advancing age. So the focus is less on the likelihood that this beautiful young girl will die without having lived than on the certainty that the older man may have to face a burden and endure a grief he hadn't bargained for. It's a good movie, well acted but an impossible mix to swallow without gagging.