In Elergy I see many reviewers have overlooked what this movie really speaks of, and by that also the intent of the book and writer Phillip Roth. After reading every review here I only noticed one or two that were referring in part to what I felt this film was truly about.
Ben Kingsley gives one of his best performances. Every move, every look is carefully chosen to portray the depth of emotion. It did that. I have never been a fan of Penelope Cruz, yet she captivated me. Why? Her beauty. I think what was missed and I see others question her portrayal as sexism, is that it went far deeper. Kinglsley when questioned by his friend if he ever saw beyond her "beauty" did not give a direct answer. She was beautiful the film was shot to make her heart wrenchingly beautiful but I also perceived that in every way he looked at her it was not simply this beauty.
He was not a man that had not ever met a beautiful woman, or young student. This was not a first. To say the attraction was sexist is to simplify what occurred. For the first time in his life, he did not know what to do. He fell in love and it was far more than with just the way she looked. The film used subtle nuances, such as him watching her as she slept, or after she left picking up her hairbrush and holding it. It was easy to see that for a man who had, had many young beautiful women she was different. I read others complaining it did not show her intelligence even though we were told she was cultivated and brilliant. It was not necessary to depict that. Why do I say that? It is clear that while she was beautiful, it was everything she did. Every time she spoke or moved. He repeats later as does she that each remembers every second in total clarity. This is a story showing one thing, the complexity of the human relationship. The complexity of love.
Torn between wanting to possess her completely and to never let her leave his side; he is conversely fighting inner turmoil. What he never had even considered possible nor comprehended the depth of its impact on his life, changed his life forever. In a internal fight with conviction that she will leave him and the age difference means one day she will wake up and decide to go, in fear from the way she makes him feel. There is no sexism here this is a story of a man who falls in love and is struggling to manage the balance between the joy of this and the anxieties.
In the end we see him sabotage the relationship. This is not as some may think in the moments when he followed her in sexual jealousy; that was a man trying to make sense of why he felt this way when living nearly his entire life no one and nothing ever touched him so deeply. The sabotage is his doubt in been able to keep her happy, his fear of losing her, his fears that it can not last, and so he ends it by at a moment when she needs him to show her his love he lets her down. The pathos is so strong. As he parks his car and calls her to say hes broken down. The internal fight rages and he has lost. He has given away the only thing he has ever loved, due to fear.
He spends the next 2 years trying to forget but as he says himself who am I fooling, it has changed me forever. When she returns in an ending that they wanted to cut but Roth refused. Cruz returns and she has breast cancer. She asks him to photograph her. Says no one ever loved her body like he did, he says he can't believe that. Yet we know it is true, he loves her so deeply that no one else could. It is heart wrenching as he photographs her topless. After the surgery he is there when she wakes his son having found when she was been operated on. She lied about the dates.. why? I believe it was a test would he be there this time. As the film ends she says they took her breast and now she has lost her beauty and this part speaks to all I have said above, he kisses her and holds her.
In conclusion, this film if you have the depth to absorb it is heart rending. It speaks to each of us whom have lived long enough to have begun to realize the intricacies of our hearts and minds. How our pasts influence who we are and how we behave. Truly though it is a love story and love is perhaps the most complex of emotions. It is a film to watch carefully to study each movement and be caught up in the honest view of two peoples relationship with one another. It is hard to watch and not be touched or brought to tears. Overall the acting was superb, cinematography, and direction too. I think this will remain an underrated film that contains deeper meanings that many will miss, it will however remain one that I will not forget anytime soon.
As others have said, this film will appeal more to the European audience.
Ben Kingsley gives one of his best performances. Every move, every look is carefully chosen to portray the depth of emotion. It did that. I have never been a fan of Penelope Cruz, yet she captivated me. Why? Her beauty. I think what was missed and I see others question her portrayal as sexism, is that it went far deeper. Kinglsley when questioned by his friend if he ever saw beyond her "beauty" did not give a direct answer. She was beautiful the film was shot to make her heart wrenchingly beautiful but I also perceived that in every way he looked at her it was not simply this beauty.
He was not a man that had not ever met a beautiful woman, or young student. This was not a first. To say the attraction was sexist is to simplify what occurred. For the first time in his life, he did not know what to do. He fell in love and it was far more than with just the way she looked. The film used subtle nuances, such as him watching her as she slept, or after she left picking up her hairbrush and holding it. It was easy to see that for a man who had, had many young beautiful women she was different. I read others complaining it did not show her intelligence even though we were told she was cultivated and brilliant. It was not necessary to depict that. Why do I say that? It is clear that while she was beautiful, it was everything she did. Every time she spoke or moved. He repeats later as does she that each remembers every second in total clarity. This is a story showing one thing, the complexity of the human relationship. The complexity of love.
Torn between wanting to possess her completely and to never let her leave his side; he is conversely fighting inner turmoil. What he never had even considered possible nor comprehended the depth of its impact on his life, changed his life forever. In a internal fight with conviction that she will leave him and the age difference means one day she will wake up and decide to go, in fear from the way she makes him feel. There is no sexism here this is a story of a man who falls in love and is struggling to manage the balance between the joy of this and the anxieties.
In the end we see him sabotage the relationship. This is not as some may think in the moments when he followed her in sexual jealousy; that was a man trying to make sense of why he felt this way when living nearly his entire life no one and nothing ever touched him so deeply. The sabotage is his doubt in been able to keep her happy, his fear of losing her, his fears that it can not last, and so he ends it by at a moment when she needs him to show her his love he lets her down. The pathos is so strong. As he parks his car and calls her to say hes broken down. The internal fight rages and he has lost. He has given away the only thing he has ever loved, due to fear.
He spends the next 2 years trying to forget but as he says himself who am I fooling, it has changed me forever. When she returns in an ending that they wanted to cut but Roth refused. Cruz returns and she has breast cancer. She asks him to photograph her. Says no one ever loved her body like he did, he says he can't believe that. Yet we know it is true, he loves her so deeply that no one else could. It is heart wrenching as he photographs her topless. After the surgery he is there when she wakes his son having found when she was been operated on. She lied about the dates.. why? I believe it was a test would he be there this time. As the film ends she says they took her breast and now she has lost her beauty and this part speaks to all I have said above, he kisses her and holds her.
In conclusion, this film if you have the depth to absorb it is heart rending. It speaks to each of us whom have lived long enough to have begun to realize the intricacies of our hearts and minds. How our pasts influence who we are and how we behave. Truly though it is a love story and love is perhaps the most complex of emotions. It is a film to watch carefully to study each movement and be caught up in the honest view of two peoples relationship with one another. It is hard to watch and not be touched or brought to tears. Overall the acting was superb, cinematography, and direction too. I think this will remain an underrated film that contains deeper meanings that many will miss, it will however remain one that I will not forget anytime soon.
As others have said, this film will appeal more to the European audience.