Elegy is based on Philip Roth’s The Dying Animal. First off, I’m a big fan of Philip Roth and I also like Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz.
If you hate any of these three, you are better off going to another movie! Ben Kingsley carries the whole movie and you can find hardly a frame where he’s not in. Another word of warning, there’s a lot of skin the movie. Ben Kingsley looks OK for a sixty-year-old guy but there are also Penélope Cruz breasts.
Moving on to the movie itself… Ben Kingsley is an aging intellectual (professor, talk-show host, etc.) who is hitting on a different student each semester. He’s careful. He waits for the END of said semester and then holds a cocktail party. Obviously, his trick works flawlessly with years of practice.
With that kind of an attitude, it’s hardly surprising Ben’s characters is deeply cynical and doesn’t believe in LOVE (capitalized for added effect). So when Penélope Cruz enters his exquisitely-calibrated trap, he hardly expects to see her again – after the SEX, of course.
As luck (I mean Philip) would have it, Penélope Cruz comes back but Ben’s character fails to appreciate the change that has occurred.
Overall, the movie poses a lot more questions that it answers – especially about age, and change of old habits. I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie gets an Oscar nod.
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