Elegy (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:112
Fresh:83
Rotten:29
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: An intelligent, adult, and provocative Philip Roth adaptation that features classy performances, Elegy is never quite the sum of its parts.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Apr 9, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $3,456,676
Synopsis: Like director Isabel Coixet's previous film MY LIFE WITHOUT ME, ELEGY is consumed by the ideas of love and mortality. But while that film focused on a young protagonist, the hero of this drama is... [More]
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson
Director: Isabel Coixet
Reviews for Elegy
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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An intelligent tale of aging, beauty, love and loss. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Coixet has blunted the impact of the novel's ending just as she has softened Roth's misanthropic depiction of Kepesh and, as a result, she's taken flak for being over-polite. I didn't care. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Ben Kingsley is extraordinary, but Penelope Cruz is just astounding as Consuela. It is really a beautiful film. Full Review |
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Beauty, obsession and longing are the central themes of this hypnotic but ultimately flawed drama in which Ben Kingsley's ageing college professor falls in lust with Penelope Cruz' stunning and vulnerable student. Full Review |
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3/4 |
There are moments when the story sags, as it postures and revels in its own eloquence, but with strong performances and a moving final act, this is still a fine, thought-provoking film. Full Review |
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3/5 |
No se ubica entre lo mejor de la directora Isabel Coixet, pero es de todos modos una interesante y sensible reflexión sobre la soledad, el amor, el sexo y la madurez. Gran trabajo de Ben Kingsley. Full Review |
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A film which stays and stays. Full Review |
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Penelope's gullible college coed swoons when the lecherous lecturer played by Ben Kingsley confesses that he's fallen in love with her breasts. You've come a long way backwards, baby. Penelope Cruz Boob Fetish Blues. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
runs out of ideas, and efforts to jog the proceedings can't get it back on track Full Review |
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With his fierce, impeccable craft Kingsley shows us around David's tortured, preening, desperate psyche. Full Review |
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B- |
Click to read the article Full Review |
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Sparse, low-budget drama, helmed by Spaniard Isabel Coixet, intelligently translates Roth's meditation on lust and mortality without soft-pedaling its narrator's brutally honest, unabashedly sexist views. Full Review |
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Penelope Cruz is outstanding in an otherwise lame male fantasy. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
Its tone and style, unfortunately, have little to do with the novella it adapts. Full Review |
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A seemingly forced ending, keep Elegy from being more than a character vehicle for one of our greatest actors and an opportunity for some creative dialogue on the pitfalls of romance. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Finally, a film for grown ups. Full Review |
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B- |
I could never warm up to any of the characters. Full Review |
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3/4 |
This is Kingsley's show from start to finish, as he wraps himself in Kepesh's mantle of singularity. Full Review |
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... another Hollywood-delivered message declaring the ultimate rightness of romantic love between a 65-year-old man and a woman who is decades younger. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Coixet's gentle hand and Kingsley's elegant voice give the movie a stately equilibrium. Full Review |
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August 22, 2008:
Penelope's gullible college coed swoons when the lecherous lecturer played by Ben Kingsley confesses that he's fallen in love with her breasts. You've come a long way backwards, baby. Penelope Cruz Boob Fetish Blues. 
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July 02, 2008:
Penelope's gullible college coed swoons when the lecherous lecturer played by Ben Kingsley confesses that he's fallen in love with her breasts. You've come a long way backwards, baby. Penelope Cruz Boob Fetish Blues.
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June 23, 2008:
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