Elegy (2008) - 8/10

Elegy was actually better than I thought it would be, a really sad movie towards the end but otherwise it had believeable chemistry between Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsly as well as great supporting cast of Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson. There are just movies that try to represent reality a little too well and I thought that it's always good to see these troubled love stories for what they are instead of injecting your own life into it. I appreciated the nude scenes of Penelope as not overly erotic but instead just another part of why he fell in love with her. The little motifs of the poetry, piano playing and raquetball rolling away to signify the loss of characters was easy to understand and effective. The subtle voice overs of when Ben Kingsly was interacting with her but then also talking to himself about being so jealous and stupid was funny b/c I was saying the same thing then he would talk aloud in his head to confirm it. Displaying the hardships of marriage and the discovery of a mistress, Elegy is definitely more of an adult themed movie but accessible b/c of the brilliant yet sad performance by Kingsley who doesn't want a real relationship to make him tied down and less alive. In the end, there is a depressing subplot that brings them back together but for me it was the spontaneous relationship that occurs b/w Cruz as student and him as the teacher that is so different than other stuff I've seen recently. Not bad at all.