Consuela is no dunce when it comes to the way men are. She wants to be part of David’s life and wants him to be part of hers. She struggles for this, fights for this. What she can’t combat is David’s own insecurities about himself and their relationship. The more David examines his relationship with Consuela with his friend George O’Hearn (Dennis Hopper), the more apprehensive he becomes about it coming to light. Consuela has the complete opposite reaction, could not care less about their age difference and wants the world to know they are together. Because of this situation, Cruz gives one of the best dramatic performances I’ve seen from her, if not the best. The viewer believes her when she is sad and when she is showing emotion on her face. The same can be said for Kingsley’s David. When he finally realizes what he wants, he finds out that he can no longer have that for reasons he didn’t expect, could never have foreseen. He loses it emotional, breaks down and it is authentic. The viewer feels for David almost more than they do for Consuela and her piteous predicament. Elegy is the type of film where its characters examine truths about themselves and how others perceive them. Everyone is self-aware and that self-awareness breeds the conflicts in the film. It powers the characters’ story arcs and fuels some of their personal growth. This growth is not complete or whole in Elegy, it’s at its beginning, the seeds have been laid down for the eventually growth but the viewer can see their tell-tale signs. Characters begin trying to do better, to be better than they have been up to this point in their lives.
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Isabel Coixet’s Elegy is based on The Dying Animal by one of my favorite authors, Philip Roth, hence the self-evaluation prevalent in its characters and the situations they find themselves in. It is not an uplifting story told within Elegy’s runtime but there is a mature, satisfying journey to be taken with its protagonist and the characters he interacts with. There are very few dramas that have this distinction. Rating: 7.5/10 If you enjoyed this review, subscribe to our full RSS feed or by e-mail to get informed when we post new ones.
