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Elsa & Fred (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:15
Rotten:12
Average Rating:5.4/10
Consensus: Boosted by charming performances by the octogenarian leads, Elsa and Fred overcomes its schmaltzy premise to make for a satisfying romantic tale.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for some mild thematic elements and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Jun 27, 2008 Limited
Synopsis:
Elsa & Fred is a romantic comedy about the irresistible power and total madness of love when two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it’s never too late to love… or to dream.
Elsa...
Elsa & Fred is a romantic comedy about the irresistible power and total madness of love when two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it’s never too late to love… or to dream.
Elsa has dreamt for the past 60 years of the moment that Fellini had already envisaged: the scene in La Dolce Vita. at the Fontana di Trevi. Her dream however is not of Anita Ekberg, but Elsa instead rising out of the fountain in all her glory, and without Marcello Mastroiani, but with her true love that took so long to arrive.
Alfredo is a bit younger than Elsa, a reserved meticulous man who becomes the object of Elsa’s desire. After losing his wife, he feels lonely and confused and his daughter decides that it would be best if he moved into a smaller apartment where he meets Elsa. From that moment on, everything changes. Elsa bursts into his life like a whirlwind, determined to teach him that the time he has left to live—be it more or less—is precious and that he should enjoy every minute of it. Fred surrenders to Elsa’s frenzy, to her youth, to her boldness, to her beautiful madness. And this is how Alfredo (or Fred, as Elsa calls him), learns how to live.--© Mitropoulos Pictures
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Starring: Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla, Blanca Portillo, Roberto Carnaghi
Starring: Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla, Blanca Portillo, Roberto Carnaghi, Federico Luppi
Director: Marcos Carnevale
Director: Marcos Carnevale
Screenwriter: Marcos Carnevale,
Producer: José Antonio Félez
Composer:
Studio: Mitropoulos Films
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Reviews for Elsa & Fred
Who would have guessed that, in this age of excess and one-upmanship, when bigger is always better, the year's most romantic screen kiss would last a mere two seconds.
Love is said to be blind, but this sweet Spanish romance suggests it may also be ageless.
This little gem will have the mature moviegoer completely under its spell.
The transformation of a fear-based man by a Zorba-the-Greek-like woman with a zest for life, enthusiasm, and creative daring.
Convincingly proves even to teens (not likely to be in the audience, unfortunately), that you're never too old for romance.
When one thinks of on-screen chemistry, rarely, if ever, do you think of characters in their seventies.
Credit director Marcos Carnevale with beautifully pulling off this schmaltzy premise, as well as restaging the famous scene at Rome's Trevi Fountain from La Dolce Vita with his elderly lovers in place of Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg.
Yes, it’s formulaic and shamelessly manipulative. But Zorrilla and Alexandre have chemistry to burn; only a hard heart could resist their bittersweet romance.
Loads of erotic chemistry between these two Madrid geriatric lovebirds without the least benefit of raging hormones, a septuagenarian object of desire longing for a male with interesting vices, and screen dreams sexing it up, La Dolce Vita style.
For some, the movie will be an emotional paean to love at the twilight of life; to others, though, it's a contrived, manipulative film calculatedly sentimental and -- except for poor Alfredo -- totally false to life.
Elsa & Fred is worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.
Director Marcos Carnevale makes sure to get his ticket punched at every station in this journey through cinematic convention.
Brilliantly acted by two septugenarians who wallow in shameless sentimentality, it's exuberant and thoroughly entrancing.
Elsa & Fred feels not substantial enough to bear the weight of its themes. It dissolves like cotton candy, making proper digestion impossible.
This starts to get interesting in the homestretch, as the woman's chronic deception begins to catch up with her, but for the most part it's an extended Geritol commercial.
The problem isn't the acting; both actors are superb. It's Elsa's character that is so difficult to take. Only the hopelessly romantic will be able to tolerate her.
Elsa is obsessed with the "Fontana di Trevi" sequence from La Dolce Vita, but that's only a reminder that the aging Fellini once accomplished far more effective films about old age and second chances.
In the end, only the veteran actors playing Elsa and Fred make the movie watchable.
Latest News for Elsa & Fred
January 23, 2009:
Loads of erotic chemistry between these two Madrid geriatric lovebirds without the least benefit of raging hormones, a septuagenarian object of desire longing for a male with interesting vices, and screen dreams sexing it up, La Dolce Vita style. ![]()
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January 19, 2009:
Loads of erotic chemistry between these two Madrid geriatric lovebirds without the least benefit of raging hormones, a septuagenarian object of desire longing for a male with interesting vices, and screen dreams sexing it up, La Dolce Vita style. ![]()
More...
January 19, 2009:
ActorsandCrew.com: Loads of erotic chemistry between these two Madrid geriatric lovebirds without the least benefit of raging hormones, and a septuagenarian object of desire longing for a male with interesting vices. ![]()
More...
June 30, 2008:
Critics Consensus: WALL-E Is the Best-Reviewed Film of 2008
This week at the movies, we've got lonely robots (Pixar's WALL-E, directed by Andrew Stanton) and kinetic killers (Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
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| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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