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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.
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... [More]
Starring: Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla, Blanca Portillo, Roberto Carnaghi
Director: Marcos Carnevale
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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.
Top CriticThe dream fulfillment seems more silly than romantic, and it brings the movie to an abrupt end that is wholly unsatisfying.
The absence of bite prevents the movie from leaving any kind of impression.
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Marcos Carnevale’s patronizing take on the relationship between an elderly widow and widower in Madrid unspools like the vision of a middle-aged person intent on propagating stereotypes about youthfulness and the golden years.
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.
A sweet but inconsequential romantic comedy.
Top CriticElsa 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.
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.
This little gem will have the mature moviegoer completely under its spell.
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.
Top CriticElsa & Fred is both a movie about love and a love letter to movies.
Top CriticIt's hard in good conscience to recommend a sappy flick with a heroine this shallow, her spunkiness in the face of a dire prognosis notwithstanding.
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.
Love is said to be blind, but this sweet Spanish romance suggests it may also be ageless.
Director Marcos Carnevale makes sure to get his ticket punched at every station in this journey through cinematic convention.
Elsa & Fred is worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.
Top CriticWho 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.
In the end, only the veteran actors playing Elsa and Fred make the movie watchable.
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...
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