Friday, August 22, 2008

Movie review: Elegy

Kingsley on Cruz control.

By John P. Meyer

Elegy

Charismatic professor David Kepesh glories in the pursuit of adventurous female students but never lets any woman get too close. When gorgeous Consuela Castillo enters his classroom, however, his protective veneer dissolves. Her raven-haired beauty both captivates and unsettles him. Even if Kepesh declares her body a perfect work of art, Consuela is more than an object of desire. She has a strong sense of herself and an emotional intensity that challenges his preconceptions. Kepesh's need for Consuela becomes an obsession, but ultimately his jealous fantasies of betrayal drive her away. Shattered, Kepesh faces up to the ravages of time, immersing himself in work and confronting the loss of old friends. Then, two years later, Consuela comes back into his life-with an urgent, desperate request that will change everything.

Source: Cinema Source

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Elegy marks an auspicious high profile submission from Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet, probably best known in the U.S. for her segment of the ensemble indie film Paris, je t'aime ('06). Elegy achieves something more than art house status by virtue of its casting of big name players (Sir) Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz, along with a host of talented co-stars - among them Patricia Clarkson, Dennis Hopper, Peter Sarsgaard and Deborah Harry.

Elegy offers up a smart and well-spoken narrative thread, as we'd expect given the credentials of Philip Roth (who wrote the short story source material) and Nicholas Meyer (who crafted the screenplay). It's also a deeply melancholy piece, whose thematic gravity pulls us into ruminations on missed opportunity, self-destruction, failure of the imagination and lingering regret.

In other words, it's a love story.

David Kepesh (Mr. Kingsley) is a college professor and pop sociologist who appears before his classroom - and the TV talk show cameras - as an erudite and convincing advocate for a life without relationship strings. He's written a book called "The Origins of American Hedonism." After having "served time" in the role of a traditional married person - and lived to regret it - he now revels in his personal freedom, exemplified by the occasional fling with one of his attractive female students.

When the stunning Consuela Castillo (Ms. Cruz, stunning indeed) materializes in one of the desks facing his lecture podium, Kepesh thinks he's spotted his next flingee. Sure enough, the two soon bump into each other at a party, and all systems appear toggled into "go" mode: Kepesh maneuvers Consuela into a book-lined hallway and teasingly shows her a print of Goya's Maja (clothed version), noting the resemblance between that work of art and Consuela. (I don't see it, but that's O.K. - the ploy serves to extract the young lady's phone number.)

Almost a wardrobe malfunction

Which leads to a quiet evening together in David's apartment. Professor Kepesh, being a sophisticated sort of fellow, seduces with Satie as opposed to, say, Marvin Gaye, but the effect doesn't kick in until nigh onto daylight, so maybe it's time he upgraded his repertoire.

After their intimate interlude it's clear that David has developed an intense case of Consuela worship, which he attempts to explain to his poet friend, George (Mr. Hopper). These two pals meet up regularly in a neighborhood coffee shop for freewheeling metaphysical discussions, and on this topic (gray-haired professor-types hooking up with college-aged women) George is of the "take whatever you can get" school of thought. George doubts that his friend's encounter with Consuela was anything but a one-night stand, but David argues otherwise: he feels he's made a genuine personal connection with Consuela.

Which, indeed, it appears that he has. The two continue seeing each other - he, nervously (waiting for the younger lover hammer to fall) and she, acceptingly (inviting David to consider a future with her; encouraging him to meet her family). Ironically, David's scholarly, worldly-wise approach to life and love - which counsels skepticism at all relationship turns - threatens to torpedo what is shaping up to be a beautiful and fulfilling long-term romantic partnership.

"Satie, or Marvin Gaye?"

Out on the periphery of David's attention is Carolyn (Ms. Clarkson, red-lining the older woman sex appeal gauges with a slow and sensuous strip tease), a long-time lover who visits David's bed whenever she passes through town on business. Their interaction is strictly sexual, with just enough time left over for an occasional dinner or bar conversation. She is the perfect woman for a man with David's sensibilities, as she frequently and in no uncertain terms points out to him.

Also complicating events is Kepesh's son, Kenneth (Mr. Sarsgaard), who's experiencing his own dark night of the relationship soul and is presently in such desperate straits that he's forced to seek his Dad's questionable counsel. The two have never been close, and until his personal issues arose, Kenneth displayed nothing but disrespect for his father's liberated attitudes in relation to - um - relations.

While it turns out that David is genuinely smitten by Consuela, his world view simply can't encompass the possibility that she would choose his long-term companionship over that of a man of her own generation - and thus he finds a way (perhaps subconsciously) to hasten what he believes to be their inevitable split.

That this turns out not to be the end of the story allows a final dramatic punch to be delivered in the film's last reel. In a beautifully acted scene, David and Consuela meet up for a final haunting pas de deux.

Much of one's enjoyment of this film will be hinged upon a willingness to accept the possibility of a beautiful, intelligent, much younger woman making a decision to carry on a love affair with a man well past middle age. In terms of suspension of disbelief, that's not an awful lot to ask. (Is it?)

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