2008 Woodie Awards
"Elegy" true to its name
By Shayna Murphy, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: Arts & Living
An elegy is said to be a poem of sadness and of mourning. Isabel Coixet's latest film, "Elegy," captures both feelings. Currently showing at Amherst Cinema, the film stars Ben Kingsley as Professor David Kepesh forced to reconsider life after falling in love with a younger woman.
"Elegy" gains source material from the 2001 novella, "The Dying Animal." Penned by Philip Roth, the novella forms the conclusion of the Kepesh trilogy, which also includes "The Breast" (1972) and "The Professor of Desire" (1977).
As Kepesh, Kingsley is assertive and effective. A professor at Columbia University, Kepesh is all intellect and raging libido. He sates his appetites with any number of students or willing female participants. An occasional talking head on "Charlie Rose," Kepesh is not just a hedonist. He is also a vocal critic of contemporary social mores.
His book, "The Origins of American Hedonism," lays his values bare. In it, Kepesh rails against a puritanical society which idealizes commitment and condemns casual sex. In his early sixties, he seems like a character plucked straight out of the 1960s.
There's also sadness to him. His estrangement from his son Kenny (Peter Sarsgaard) dates back to his abandonment of his wife. Kenny hasn't forgiven him, nor does he approve of his father's lifestyle. Fresh out of familial connections, Kepesh pulls his deepest bonds from a poet (Dennis Hopper) and from school, where he busies himself with teaching and seduction.
If "Elegy" had kept its original title, the film would seem more self-aware. Kepesh is not yet a dying animal, yet he mourns his advancing age. His affairs invigorate his ego, but no fantasy can last forever. Bound up in fears of impending death, Kepesh is an anxious figure, even after he discovers a woman worth committing to.
Nicholas Meyers, who adapted "Elegy" for the screen, also did the 2003 film, "The Human Stain," starring Anthony Hopkins as an aging professor of Classics. Like Kepesh, Hopkins' character finds cause to question life after he beds a janitor played, rather improbably, by Nicole Kidman.
"Elegy" gains source material from the 2001 novella, "The Dying Animal." Penned by Philip Roth, the novella forms the conclusion of the Kepesh trilogy, which also includes "The Breast" (1972) and "The Professor of Desire" (1977).
As Kepesh, Kingsley is assertive and effective. A professor at Columbia University, Kepesh is all intellect and raging libido. He sates his appetites with any number of students or willing female participants. An occasional talking head on "Charlie Rose," Kepesh is not just a hedonist. He is also a vocal critic of contemporary social mores.
His book, "The Origins of American Hedonism," lays his values bare. In it, Kepesh rails against a puritanical society which idealizes commitment and condemns casual sex. In his early sixties, he seems like a character plucked straight out of the 1960s.
There's also sadness to him. His estrangement from his son Kenny (Peter Sarsgaard) dates back to his abandonment of his wife. Kenny hasn't forgiven him, nor does he approve of his father's lifestyle. Fresh out of familial connections, Kepesh pulls his deepest bonds from a poet (Dennis Hopper) and from school, where he busies himself with teaching and seduction.
If "Elegy" had kept its original title, the film would seem more self-aware. Kepesh is not yet a dying animal, yet he mourns his advancing age. His affairs invigorate his ego, but no fantasy can last forever. Bound up in fears of impending death, Kepesh is an anxious figure, even after he discovers a woman worth committing to.
Nicholas Meyers, who adapted "Elegy" for the screen, also did the 2003 film, "The Human Stain," starring Anthony Hopkins as an aging professor of Classics. Like Kepesh, Hopkins' character finds cause to question life after he beds a janitor played, rather improbably, by Nicole Kidman.
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