Cast: Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard
Director: Isabel Coixet
Driven by Isabel Coixet's (My Life Without Me) visually assured and deeply observant direction, ELEGYcharts the passionate relationship between a celebrated New York college professor, David Kepesh(Kingsley) and a young Cuban-born woman, Consuela Castillo (Cruz) whose beauty both ravishesand destablises him. As their intimate connection transforms them - more than either could imagine -a charged sexual contest evolves into an indelible love story. With humanistic warmth, wry wit anderotic intensity ELEGY explores the power of beauty to blind, to reveal and transform.
With extraordinary performances by Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz, thefilm is based on Pulitzer Prize-winner Philip Roth's short novel "The Dying Animal." On the one hand ashattering, heartfelt romantic drama, ELEGY is also a complex, intelligent and unflinchingly honestmeditation on lust, mortality, family, male friendship, intimacy and commitment. It's a refreshing film inits ability to deal with adult issues while remaining an invigorating cinematic experience.
Elegy