Elegy - film review
In a tale of modern-day relationships Ben Kingsley (as David Kepesh) portrays the emptiness of life as a successful academic/author/media celebrity. Apparently Kepesh has it all - successful academic and media careers, long term girlfriend for no-strings-attached sex, close friendship with poet George O'Hearn (Dennis Hopper), and a regular supply of female students, courtesy of his literary theory course. However, when Consuela (Penelope Cruz) -a student 30 years his junior- attempts to put their relationship onto a more conventional footing, Kepesh must confront the insecurity of his position, infatuated with a woman he knows he must eventually lose. His equivocation ensures his fate, even before the final twist in the tale signals a more permanent ending.
The film's more entertaining moments arise in the dialogues between Kepesh and O'Hearn, and in the latter role Hopper delivers all the best lines, both comic and illuminating. But perhaps the most telling observation is uttered by Patricia Clarkson, playing Kepesh's long term girlfriend, who in reference to Internet dating reflects that "We pay for the silences, and the same conversations, over and over again..."