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Why do romantic comedies make it so hard on themselves? All a good one really needs is charismatic stars whom the audience wants to see together, and a plot with the obligatory roadblocks the romantic duo can successfully navigate without breaking the spell of their chemistry. For a recipe with so few ingredients, Hollywood has made an incredibly large amount of bad dishes. The reason so many romantic comedies fail is that they are micro-managed to the point of madness. Something that should be as light as a soufflé is almost always served with the consistency of a brick.

"Elsa & Fred" is the latest brick soufflé thrown at an unsuspecting audience. This movie is so tone-deaf that it tries to wring charm from questionable stereotypes about senior citizens and minorities. The latter is so completely out of place that it gives "Elsa & Fred" an air of elitism that I assume was not intentional. The former drives the plot, and despite the presence of the extremely charming Oscar-winning actors Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine, one cannot help but root for this couple to stay the hell away from each other. The pitch meeting must have been “it’s the typical bad romantic comedy…but with OLD PEOPLE!!”

For its senior-aged couple, “Elsa & Fred” presents a grouch and a compulsive liar, the latter of whom is so incredibly unlikeable that you root for the grouch to drive her away forever. At least the grouch has reason for his temperament: Fred (Plummer) is a recently widowed man whose shrew stereotype of a daughter Lydia ( Marcia Gay Harden —another Oscar winner completely wasted here) treats him as if he’s gone senile. Lydia hires an African-American caregiver ( Erika Alexander ) for Fred. The caregiver’s '80s aerobics instructor look and street vernacular get insulted by Lydia, and, in one unfortunate scene, Alexander holds up a watermelon in close-up and without irony.

While Lydia represents the “those pesky young people are so ungrateful” subplot, Plummer hooks into these early scenes of resentment and bitterness, embodying them with a deeply internalized, unspoken suffering. You almost want his Garbo-like wish to be left alone to be granted, if only so he can reconcile the death of a wife he actually hated.

But this is a romance, so one must allow for the hope that someone will rouse Fred from his misery. Enter Elsa ( Shirley MacLaine ), Fred’s next door neighbor. Elsa is the type of character a bad film has to constantly remind you to like. She’s a liar whose lies would doom all but the most masochistic relationships. She lies to Fred about her marital status, her family and her health. She does this while trying to drag the distrustful Fred from his shell and into a world where he can trust without fear.

Neither the flighty, spirited characteristics of the youthful MacLaine nor the mama-bear fierceness of the latter-day “ Terms of Endearment ” Shirley could save Elsa from being an annoying device. Elsa puts Fred on a multi-step “process” to help “cure” him, but every time Fred steps forward in progress, one of her lies knocks him backwards with the force of a Mike Tyson punch. Elsa cleans things up by saying “trust me without reservations!” And Fred continues to trust her. It’s supposed to be romantic; it’s pathetic.

“Elsa & Fred” gets so desperate for us to love Elsa that it not only saddles her with an illness that will eventually kill her, it also introduces her husband (James Brolin) as a last reel plot development. Brolin gets an absurd speech that would put his son Josh’s peach-cobbler ramblings in “ Labor Day ” to shame. After reiterating every single reason why Elsa is toxic, Brolin says “don’t make the mistake I did in letting her get away!” You’ll want to yell “Don’t listen to Babs’s husband! Run, Fred, RUN!!”

Adding insult to injury, “Elsa & Fred” refers to “ La Dolce Vita ” in almost every other scene. It goes so far in its comparison to the superior Fellini film that it recreates the most famous scene from “La Dolce Vita”, complete with black and white cinematography. The intercutting of the smoking-hot, youthful Anita Ekberg with the much older (though still attractive) MacLaine mimicking her is the epitome of camp. And the scene of Plummer feeding a kitten yogurt with a spoon at Trevi Fountain should cause the cat-loving Internet to burst into flames.

But I digress. George Segal , Scott Bakula and Chris Noth show up on occasion in barely fleshed-out roles, and Wendell Pierce provides mild amusement as an accident-prone landlord. They’re given little to do, but provide mildly entertaining distractions. Segal in particular reminds us how good he is at stealing a scene.

Behind the camera, director Michael Radford and his cinematographer Michael McDonough make the most of “Elsa & Fred”’s New Orleans setting. The music by Luis Bacalov (“Il Postino”) is sweet enough to deserve a better movie.

Speaking of music, the sole moment of entertainment in "Elsa & Fred" occurs during the closing credits. Over his trademark piano playing, New Orleans legend Dr. John duets beautifully with Dee Dee Bridgewater. The song recaps the film’s dreadful plot in its lyrics, but the charismatic interplay between the singers is so good that it made me want to watch the movie they were describing. These singers know how to cook a romantic comedy soufflé. Save your money and buy the song, or better yet, go rent “La Dolce Vita.”

Odie Henderson

Odie "Odienator" Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

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Film credits.

Elsa & Fred (2014)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language

Shirley MacLaine as Elsa Hayes

Christopher Plummer as Fred Bancroft

Marcia Gay Harden as Lydia Bancroft

Scott Bakula as Raymond Hayes

Chris Noth as Jack

George Segal as John

Erika Alexander as Laverne

James Brolin as Max Hayes

Wendell Pierce as Armande

• Michael Radford
• Anna Pavignano

Cinematography

• Michael McDonough

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Elsa & fred, common sense media reviewers.

Romance about aging and love is tender but falls flat.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Love can come at any age, even to people who thoug

Elsa has a propensity for lying, and her behavior

Some kisses. It's suggested that the two main char

Infrequent swearing includes "hell" and "pissed."

Some social drinking.

Parents need to know that Elsa & Fred traces the burgeoning relationship between two senior citizens who become neighbors. Fred is bitter for having been recently widowed, while Elsa is happy-go-lucky come to life. The film explores love at an age often ignored by other movies; while the content is very…

Positive Messages

Love can come at any age, even to people who thought they weren't on the lookout for it.

Positive Role Models

Elsa has a propensity for lying, and her behavior sometimes edges over the line to fraud and other activities that aren't just socially unacceptable but actually criminal. Fred mostly finds this endearing, though he also has trouble trusting her.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some kisses. It's suggested that the two main characters end up sleeping together (they wake up together).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Infrequent swearing includes "hell" and "pissed." One character says "f--k" in a moment of duress.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Elsa & Fred traces the burgeoning relationship between two senior citizens who become neighbors. Fred is bitter for having been recently widowed, while Elsa is happy-go-lucky come to life. The film explores love at an age often ignored by other movies; while the content is very mild, tweens and even teens aren't likely to be too interested. There are some chaste kisses, and the main characters are shown waking up together. A few scenes show adults drinking, mostly with meals, and profanity is infrequent -- though there is one vehement "f--k" in a moment of stress. Elsa is no stranger to lying, and some of her activities actually veer into illegal territor -- though Fred seems to find it endearing. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

Fred ( Christopher Plummer ), a recent widower, moves into a new apartment somewhat reluctantly, where he's taken under the wing of his nosy, flirtatious neighbor, Elsa ( Shirley MacLaine ). Both are retirees -- and at an age when many people might not be thinking about new love. But Elsa's zest for life renews Fred and eventually overpowers his biting demeanor.

Is It Any Good?

First, applause for veterans MacLaine and Plummer. As the titular couple, they're funny and interesting and effortlessly appealing. Sadly, the script isn't as impressive. ELSA & FRED is supposed to show a couple falling in love, but we don't actually see it happening. One moment they're bickering neighbors, and then they're suddenly head over heels. And while Elsa is depicted as a carefree, charming spirit, the audience discovers that she's far more complicated, perhaps disturbingly so -- but the movie doesn't seem to put it into the context of Elsa and Fred's relationship, a glaring omission. Elsa and Fred are interesting, but interesting enough? That's still a question.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Elsa and Fred's relationship. Why are they drawn together? Do you think they make a good pair? Are they relatable characters? Is their relationship believable?

What do you think about Elsa's loose relationship with the truth? Why does she lie? How does Fred react to it? How would you react?

Can you think of other movies that depict new love between seniors? How are love and sex between older people typically depicted in the media? Which do you think is more honest?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 7, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : December 30, 2014
• Cast : Christopher Plummer , Shirley MacLaine
• Director : Anna Pavignano
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Millennium Entertainment
• Genre : Romance
• Run time : 104 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : brief strong language
• Last updated : August 16, 2022

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Film Review: ‘Elsa & Fred’

Two great actors do what they can with this strained, witless romance between two neighbors weathering the indignities of old age.

By Justin Chang

Justin Chang

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Not even the ever-winning company of Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer is enough to reward the viewer’s investment in “Elsa & Fred,” a bland and formulaic tale of two senior citizens who discover that it’s never too late to fall in love — which may well be true, but doesn’t keep this rickety recycling of a 2005 Spanish-Argentinean comedy from feeling long past its sell-by date. Joining the recent Michael Douglas-Diane Keaton vehicle “And So It Goes” as depressing evidence of the dwindling Hollywood options available to excellent actors past a certain age, the Millennium Entertainment release might get a mild commercial boost from its cast names, but otherwise looks to quickly totter in and out of theaters.

Several months after his wife’s death, grumpy old Fred (Christopher Plummer) moves into his own New Orleans apartment with the less-than-welcome assistance of his daughter, Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden), who fussily attends to Dad’s every concern even as she and her husband (Chris Noth) try to coax him into donating $90,000 to a hopeless business venture. One can scarcely blame the cantankerous old coot for wanting to lie in bed all day and be left alone, even when his hired caretaker (Erika Alexander) urges him to get out for some fresh air.

The infusion of oxygen he needs, it turns out, comes courtesy of Elsa (MacLaine), the spirited widow who lives next door, and whose carelessness behind the wheel one day necessitates a few remunerative run-ins with her new neighbor. Giddy, whimsical, meddlesome and slightly endearing when she’s not totally annoying, Elsa gradually wears down Fred’s defenses, her vivacious energy gradually awakening his own long-dormant charm. It’s not long before the old man flushes his meds and his attitude, learning to embrace life for the gift that it is; long walks in the park, nice dinners and sweet guitar serenades ensue. There is the occasional hiccup — Elsa turns out to be a rather colorful spinner of tall tales, to put it mildly, a fact that’s milked for awkward situational laughs one minute (including a two-scene James Brolin cameo) and shameless tears the next.

For a movie that’s ostensibly about casting off the shackles of old age and embracing excitement in life, there isn’t a single moment here that feels original or spontaneous — and not just because of the faithful-to-a-fault adaptation by Anna Pavignano and Michael Radford, who does his fine cast no favors by directing them to strained sitcom rhythms. Stuck in roles that require them to shift abruptly between sweet and sour as the plot dictates, the leads get by largely on audience affection: MacLaine’s dignity prevails even when she’s forced to do things like dance along to “Shake It” on the car radio, while Plummer could do this curmudgeonly routine in his sleep, though it’s a far cry from his much more nuanced portrait of late-in-life blossoming in “Beginners.”

Elsa’s favorite movie is “La dolce vita,” which she rewatches obsessively; the resulting excerpts count as easily the most compelling moments of “Elsa & Fred.” It’s perhaps an unfair truism that any extended homage to a vastly superior movie will merely leave you feeling all the more resentful toward the one you’re stuck with. But Elsa’s longing for her own Trevi Fountain moment is cloyingly overplayed, building all the way to a predictable Roman-holiday climax that feels less uplifting than condescending. It’s as though the film were encouraging the audience to emit a collective, cheek-pinching “awww” as these two aging lovers bask in one last moment of glamour and sensuality before … well, to spell it out would be both superfluous and unkind. Suffice to say that the end comes not a moment too soon.

Reviewed at Wilshire screening room, Beverly Hills, Oct. 24, 2014. (In Miami, Seattle, Rio de Janeiro, Morelia film festivals.) MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 105 MIN.

• Production: A Millennium Entertainment release and presentation of a Cuatro Plus Films production. Produced by Edward Saxon, Nicolas Veinberg, Matthias Ehrenberg, Jose Levy, Ricardo Kleinbaum. Executive producers, Rob Weston, Angel Losada Moreno, Osvaldo Rios, Carsten Lorenz, Aaron Gilbert, James Gibb. Co-producers, Artist Robinson, Justin Bell. Co-executive producers, Margot Hand, Patrick Murray.
• Crew: Directed by Michael Radford. Screenplay, Anna Pavignano, Radford, based on the 2005 film “Elsa & Fred” directed by Marcos Carnevale, written by Carnevale, Marcela Guerty, Lily Ann Martin. Camera (color/B&W, widescreen), Michael McDonough; editor, Peter Boyle; music, Luis Bacalov; music supervisor, Andy Ross; production designer, Stephanie Carroll; art director, Christina Kim; set decorator, Alice Baker; costume designer, Gary Jones; sound, Richard Schexnayder; supervising sound editor, Michael Baird; re-recording mixers, Jason Dotts, Jerry Gilbert; special effects coordinator, Ken Speed; visual effects supervisor, Morgan Krutz; visual effects, Films in Motion; stunt coordinator, Stanton Barrett; line producer, Carsten Lorenz; associate producers, Oveishon, Cesar Canavati, Luigi Mira, Eduardo Zarazua; assistant director, Artist Robinson; second unit camera, Doug Schwartz; casting, Sharon Howard-Field, Ronnie Yeskel.
• With: Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Noth, Jared Gilman, Scott Bakula, George Segal, James Brolin, Reg Rogers, Wendell Pierce, Erika Alexander.

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‘elsa & fred’: film review.

Michael Radford adapts a 2005 Spanish-Argentinian film about senior citizens who begin dating, with Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer in the title roles

By Jon Frosch

Senior Editor, Reviews

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Elsa And Fred Still - H 2014

It’s so exceedingly rare to see octogenarians on the big screen — Amour   is a notable recent exception — that one is tempted to be patient with Elsa & Fred , Michael Radford ’s remake of a 2005 Spanish-Argentinian film, Elsa y Fred , about two senior citizens who begin dating.

But patience has its limits.

The Bottom Line A cutesy, cringey seniors-in-love rom-com

Despite the presence of Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer , both sprightly and appealing in the lead roles, this misfire of a cornball romance is so tone-deaf, so utterly lacking in screwball snap and visual punch, that viewers will find it hard to care whether or not the aging lovebirds end up in each other’s arms.

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Elsa & Fred comes just a few months after Rob Reiner ’s And So It Goes , in which Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton engaged in some of the most witless banter this side of Gigli ; it’s been a rough year for the 65-and-over rom-com.

Radford ( Il Postino , The Merchant of Venice ) and co-screenwriter Anna Pavignano have transplanted the story from Madrid to New Orleans, but other than that, it’s essentially a scene-for-scene adaptation of the original. Plummer plays Fred, a grumpy widower who wants to be left alone. MacLaine is Elsa, a sassy, whimsical spitfire who may also be a compulsive liar. He moves in next door and they almost instantly dislike one another, but she offers to show him the “path to life” (Step 1: walks in the park; Step 2: dance lessons; Step 3: dine and dash from overpriced restaurant) — a bizarre and somewhat creepy proposition that nonetheless proves effective: soon they’re head over heels.

Erratically shot and edited, full of dialogue that rarely rises above bad-sitcom level — of his son-in-law, played by Chris Noth , Fred says: “I like him as much a I like sciatic nerve pain” — and gags that don’t land, Elsa & Fred leans heavily on the charms of its central duo. The two (who previously appeared together in Richard Attenborough ’s final film, 2007’s Closing the Ring ) have a sweet, relaxed chemistry, and at its least inept, their new movie conjures a sense of two dormant lives stirring gently.

But the film smothers the pair with cutesy touches (Elsa is obsessed with Fellini ’s La Dolce Vita , especially the iconic scene in which Anita Ekberg frolics in the Trevi Fountain), many of which are lifted directly from the original but register as even cringier in this Anglo version. Meanwhile, anyone looking for belly laughs will have to settle for the sight of MacLaine bopping along to rap while driving.

The movie unfolds in hopelessly rote fashion, ticking off boxes on the rom-com checklist: Elsa shakes Fred from his sulky stupor; Fred throws out meds and starts to, you know, live again; they slow dance, defend their love against uncomprehending children (namely Fred’s shrill daughter, played by Marcia Gay Harden ) and confront health crises.

Most problematically, the relationship between Elsa and Fred makes little emotional sense. As played by MacLaine, her mischievously raised eyebrows and pursed mouth as vividly juxtaposed as ever, Elsa is initially so feisty and facetious that when she suddenly starts gushing over Fred it’s hard to tell if she’s serious. Similarly, Plummer’s evolution from crusty curmudgeon to love-drunk fool — one particularly humbling moment finds him linking arms with MacLaine and skipping down the street — feels abrupt and unpersuasive.

Radford has never been an ambitious stylist — the blocking here is clumsy, the frames uninspired — but he displayed a far defter touch with romantic material in his most famous movie, the slight Euro crowd-pleaser Il Postino , and even in his noirish oddity  B. Monkey .  

A cloyingly springy score and a curiously retro New Orleans, in which the few people of color seen are a caregiver, a building superintendent and a shopkeeper (there’s a compensatory glimpse of President Obama on TV in the background), contribute to an overall aura of tackiness.

It’s hard to fault MacLaine and Plummer for signing on to Elsa & Fred ; juicy roles for older actors are scarce (though their terrific turns in Richard Linklater ’s Bernie and Mike Mills ’ Beginners , respectively, were late-career high points). What a shame, though, that the indignities of old age in Hollywood include slumming in movies this mediocre.

Production companies: Cuatro Plus Films, Defiant Pictures, Creative Andina, Rio Negro, Riverside Entertainment Group, Media House Capital Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Noth, Scott Bakula , Erika Alexander, Jared Gilman Director: Michael Radford Screenwriter: Michael Radford, Anna Pavignano Producers: Nicolas Veinberg, Jose Levy, Matthias Ehrenberg, Ricardo Kleinbaum, Ed Saxon Executive producers: Rob Weston, Angel Losado Moreno, Osvaldo Rios, Carsten Lorenz, Aaron Gilbert Cinematographer: Michael McDonough Production designer: Stephanie Carroll Costume designer: Gary Jones Editor: Peter Boyle Composer: Luis Bacalov Casting directors: Sharon Howard-Field, Ronnie Yeskel

Rated PG-13, 105 minutes

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Review: Romance proves ageless in ‘Elsa & Fred’

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Sometimes the freshest face on the big screen is 80 and counting. Certainly that’s true of “Elsa & Fred’s” brightest star, Shirley MacLaine.

One of the grande dames of cinema, she’s been seen more around the edges than center stage in recent years. Not so with director Michael Radford, 68, running the show.

As a flirty octogenarian and the better half of “Elsa & Fred,” the Oscar-winning actress (in 1984, for “Terms of Endearment”) is very much in the spotlight. And as she has in the past — whether infusing her lady of the night with sensuality in “Irma la Douce” or her nun with true grit in “Two Mules for Sister Sara” — MacLaine brings the same physical and emotional commitment to Elsa, embracing every wrinkle and sag in this romantic look at latter-day love.

Christopher Plummer, 84, and as suave as ever, is Fred, a new widower about to be enchanted by Elsa, against his will. Fred is being downsized, also against his will, by daughter Lydia, played with a nice blend of sentiment and steel by 54-year-old Marcia Gay Harden. There is pressure to use his life savings to help her money-grubbing spouse launch another sketchy enterprise. As Jack, Chris Noth, nearly 60 if you can believe it, makes this schemer distasteful, but nothing like the juicy watching of Mr. Big in “Sex and the City” or “The Good Wife’s” Gov. Peter Florrick.

The circle around Elsa and Fred also includes Elsa’s son Gavin (Scott Bakula, 60), her ex Max (James Brolin, 74), Elsa and Fred’s apartment super Armande (Wendell Pierce, 50), Fred’s caregiver Laverne (Erika Alexander, 44 for a few more days), his buddy John (George Segal, 80) and his grandson Michael, a skateboarding teen (played by “Moonrise Kingdom’s” Jared Gilman, at 15, the baby of the bunch).

I mention the ages of all involved because so much of “Elsa & Fred” has to do with the effects and implications of age, particularly when reaching one of those large numbers that qualify someone as “elderly.” For Radford, who wrote the script with “Il Postino’s” Anna Pavignano, 59, being that old does not mean it’s all over. Consider that Plummer won his Oscar at 82 for “Beginners,” another treatise on never being too old to feel romance’s power.

The filmmakers use Elsa as a template for exploring the dissonance between one’s actual age and that interior emotional time clock that for so many tends to stop just shy of 40. Fred, on the other hand, is designed as a model for those old souls who wear their age in every creak, groan and grumble — not so much facing Father Time as folding in front of him.

It makes Elsa and Fred ideal opposites, and with Fred just settling into the apartment next to Elsa’s, they are close enough for their opposite natures to attract.

The film unfolds like a slow dance: Fred is barely willing to move from his chair at first but more than happy to complain to anyone who approaches. Elsa never stops moving or talking, most often about her favorite fantasy, a famous scene in Frederico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.”

That film and that fantasy will drive “Elsa & Fred.” The 1960 classic stars Marcello Mastroianni, 36 at the time, and Anita Ekberg, then 29. They are lovers in Rome; there is an embrace in a fountain. A poster of the scene hangs on Elsa’s wall, a trip to the city to re-create it her dream. Will Fred be her Marcello?

There are lots of romantic interludes, frustrating breakups and unfortunate misunderstandings as the film moves toward its answer. Radford’s central point — sometimes more gracefully made than others — is that the couple could be 20 or 50. Though the issues are heavy, the execution is light, enjoyable, but it keeps “Elsa & Fred” closer to “Sleepless in Seattle” than Fellini’s deliciously deep Roman affair.

Still, the film accomplishes a rare thing these days. While the movie industry prefers to look the other way once an actor moves beyond middle age, Radford zooms in. Director of photography Michael McConough, so at ease shooting “Winter’s Bone,” the gritty Appalachian drama that launched Jennifer Lawrence, keeps it real here in different ways as he frames all of the incredible faces.

Smart choice. Those incredible faces — MacLaine alight from within every moment, Plummer’s glow burning brighter and brighter — make the romance of “Elsa & Fred” vibrantly alive.

Twitter: @betsysharkey

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‘Elsa & Fred’

MPAA rating: PG-13 for brief strong language

Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Playing: AMC Burbank Town Center 8

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Former Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey is an award-winning entertainment journalist and bestselling author. She left the newsroom in 2015. In addition to her critical essays and reviews of about 200 films a year for The Times, Sharkey’s weekly movie reviews appeared in newspapers nationally and internationally. Her books include collaborations with Oscar-winning actresses Faye Dunaway on “Looking for Gatsby” and Marlee Matlin on “I’ll Scream Later.” Sharkey holds a degree in journalism and a master’s in communications theory from Texas Christian University.

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Movie Review

Love, Not Young, but New and Invigorating

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By Stephen Holden

• Nov. 6, 2014

A grumpy old man and a dotty old lady share a moment of late-life bliss in the geriatric romantic comedy “Elsa & Fred.” Because that fun couple are played by Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine, the movie’s too-cute concept yields more rewards than you might reasonably expect.

Ms. MacLaine, in her flamboyantly twinkly, upbeat mode, plays Elsa, a frisky woman of a certain age with a vivid imagination and serious health issues that she keeps to herself. (Her character claims to be 74 but seems at least a half decade older.) Mr. Plummer plays her New Orleans neighbor, Fred, the widower next door with a bad attitude and a refrigerator filled with medications, waiting for the curtain to close on his final act.

“Have you heard of the living dead?” he says early in the movie. “I am that rare case of the dead living.”

The movie, directed by Michael Radford (“Il Postino”) from a screenplay he wrote with Anna Pavignano, is an English-language adaptation of a reasonably well-regarded Argentine film. It is also a valentine to Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.” Elsa has a poster from that cinematic landmark on her wall. In her hyperactive fantasy life, her ultimate dream is to re-enact the scene in which Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni splash about in the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

“Elsa & Fred” has the usual complement of younger characters who treat these proud, eccentric oldsters with condescension posing as concern. The worst of them, Fred’s greedy son-in-law, Jack (Chris Noth), is a parasitic rageaholic who is impatient to get his hands on his father-in-law’s money. Jack’s wife, Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden), vacillates between sympathy and exasperation. You can say this on behalf of Lydia and Jack: They don’t try to pack their elders off to a nursing home.

Elsa regales Fred with a raft of personal adventures, many of which are not true. When confronted with a lie — and she tells some whoppers — she is shamelessly unapologetic. After all, they don’t really hurt anybody. And don’t they make life more interesting?

This zany joie de vivre awakens Fred’s dormant lust for life. Under Elsa’s tutelage, he begins taking walks, and in a rebellious act that appalls Lydia, he empties his medications into a toilet. It isn’t long before Elsa and Fred are passionately declaring their love. They sleep together, although it’s not clear if they actually have sex. The screenplay largely skirts looming health and money issues.

Ms. MacLaine and Mr. Plummer make an especially compatible match, because his understated portrayal of a despairing misanthrope reins in her scenery-chewing exhibitionism. You’ll have to watch the movie to find out whether Elsa, as she claims, was actually painted by Picasso.

“Elsa & Fred” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has brief strong language.

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Elsa & Fred review – dispiriting Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer romcom

G iven the notorious ageism of the genre, it’s refreshing to see a new wave of romantic comedies with older leads. But after last year’s And So It Goes , a failed attempt with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, it’s dispiriting to find another well-cast yet criminally dull offering. Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer star as new neighbours who fall for each other with unconvincing ease amid groan-worthy prostate jokes. The bland title does make for a useful reminder of their names. But with characterisation this shallow, they might as well be called Old Grouchy Man and Old Free-spirit Woman. The film is so lightweight, it almost doesn’t exist.

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Sometimes the freshest face on the big screen is 80 and counting. Certainly that’s true of “Elsa & Fred’s” brightest star, Shirley MacLaine.

One of the grandes dames of cinema, she’s been seen more around the edges than center stage in recent years. Not so with director Michael Radford, 68, running the show.

As a flirty octogenarian and the better half of “Elsa & Fred,” the Oscar-winning actress (in 1984 for “Terms of Endearment”) is very much in the spotlight.

And as she has in the past — whether infusing her lady of the night with sensuality in “Irma la Douce” or her nun with true grit in “Two Mules for Sister Sara” — MacLaine brings the same physical and emotional commitment to Elsa, embracing every wrinkle and sag in this romantic look at latter-day love.

Christopher Plummer, 84 and as suave as ever, is Fred, a new widower about to be enchanted by Elsa, against his will. Fred is being downsized, also against his will, by daughter Lydia, played with a nice blend of sentiment and steel by 54-year-old Marcia Gay Harden.

There is pressure to use his life savings to help her money-grubbing spouse launch another sketchy enterprise. As Jack, Chris Noth — nearly 60 if you can believe it — makes this schemer distasteful but nothing like the juicy watching of Mr. Big in “Sex and the City” or “The Good Wife’s” Gov. Peter Florrick.

The circle around Elsa and Fred also includes Elsa’s son Gavin (Scott Bakula, 60), her ex Max (James Brolin, 74), Elsa and Fred’s apartment super Armande (Wendell Pierce, 50), Fred’s caregiver Laverne (Erika Alexander, 44 for a few more days), his buddy John (George Segal, 80) and his grandson Michael, a skateboarding teen (played by “Moonrise Kingdom’s” Jared Gilman, at 15, the baby of the bunch).

I mention the ages of all involved because so much of “Elsa & Fred” has to do with the effects and implications of age, particularly when reaching one of those large numbers that qualify someone as “elderly.” For Radford, who wrote the script with “Il Postino’s” Anna Pavignano, 59, being that old does not mean it’s all over. Consider that Plummer won his Oscar at 82 for “Beginners,” another treatise on never being too old to feel romance’s power.

The filmmakers use Elsa as a template for exploring the dissonance between one’s actual age and that interior emotional time clock that for so many tends to stop just shy of 40.

Fred, on the other hand, is designed as a model for those old souls who wear their age in every creak, groan and grumble — not so much facing Father Time as folding in front of him.

It makes Elsa and Fred ideal opposites, and with Fred just settling into the apartment next to Elsa’s, they are close enough for their opposite natures to attract.

The film unfolds like a slow dance: Fred is barely willing to move from his chair at first, but more than happy to complain to anyone who approaches. Elsa never stops moving or talking, most often about her favorite fantasy, a famous scene in Frederico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.”

That film and that fantasy will drive “Elsa & Fred.” The 1960 classic stars Marcello Mastroianni, 36 at the time, and Anita Ekberg, then 29. They are lovers in Rome; there is an embrace in a fountain.

A poster of the scene hangs on Elsa’s wall; a trip to the city to re-create it is her dream. Will Fred be her Marcello?

There are lots of romantic interludes, frustrating breakups and unfortunate misunderstandings as the film moves toward its answer. Radford’s central point — sometimes more gracefully made than others — is that the couple could be 20, or 50. Though the issues are heavy, the execution is light and enjoyable, but it keeps “Elsa & Fred” closer to “Sleepless in Seattle” than Fellini’s deliciously deep Roman affair.

Still, the film accomplishes a rare thing these days. While the movie industry prefers to look the other way once an actor moves beyond middle age, Radford zooms in. Director of photography Michael McConough, so at ease shooting “Winter’s Bone,” the gritty Appalachian drama that launched Jennifer Lawrence, keeps it real here in different ways as he frames all of the incredible faces.

Smart choice. Those incredible faces — MacLaine alight from within every moment, Plummer’s glow burning brighter and brighter — make the romance of “Elsa & Fred” vibrantly alive.

“Elsa & Fred” – 3 stars

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language)

Running time: 1:45

Opens: Friday at AMC Streets of Woodfield

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Elsa & Fred Reviews

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 24, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 18, 2008

Shamelessly sentimental but beautifully handled story of septuagenarian love features two sublime lead performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 18, 2008

Director Marcos Carnevale makes sure to get his ticket punched at every station in this journey through cinematic convention.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 19, 2008

In the end, only the veteran actors playing Elsa and Fred make the movie watchable.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 1, 2008

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.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 1, 2008

The dream fulfillment seems more silly than romantic, and it brings the movie to an abrupt end that is wholly unsatisfying.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 1, 2008

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.

Full Review | Aug 1, 2008

Elsa & Fred feels not substantial enough to bear the weight of its themes. It dissolves like cotton candy, making proper digestion impossible.

Full Review | Jul 31, 2008

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2008

When one thinks of on-screen chemistry, rarely, if ever, do you think of characters in their seventies.

Full Review | Jul 22, 2008

This little gem will have the mature moviegoer completely under its spell.

Elsa & Fred is worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 18, 2008

A sweet but inconsequential romantic comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 18, 2008

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 17, 2008

Love is said to be blind, but this sweet Spanish romance suggests it may also be ageless.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 1, 2008

Convincingly proves even to teens (not likely to be in the audience, unfortunately), that you're never too old for romance.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jun 28, 2008

ELSA AND FRED

"it’s never too late to love and live life".

What You Need To Know:

(BB, Ro, FR, L, S, A, D, M) Strong moral worldview as friends and family show love and compassion to widower, widower comes out of his self-pity comfort zone to grant a last request, mitigated by some Romantic, antinomian content; a few obscenities and light toilet humor, no profanity; no violence; fornication is implied between older couple; no nudity; alcohol with meals, social drinks; elderly man has medicine cabinet full of prescription drugs and takes one pill; and, death, woman on dialysis, woman lies and exaggerates often; dysfunctional marriages discussed, and there’s an irresponsible/immature adult son.

More Detail:

ELSA AND FRED is a light-hearted romantic comedy that shows the importance of enjoying life even when faced with senescence and death. Elsa, a spry lady in her mid-70s, must teach this valuable lesson to Fred, a recent widower who moves into her apartment building.

Fred is the classic grumpy old man not happy with anything or anyone it seems. However, beneath his disgruntled exterior is a gentleman who is trying to adjust to changes about which he has little power and autonomy. His daughter believes he needs a caretaker and moves him into a smaller apartment after his wife dies for his own good and hires a home healthcare provider to look after him. He is content to wallow in self-pity and isolate himself in his apartment until Elsa forces him out of hiding.

Elsa is full of life and loves to laugh; everything Fred wants to avoid. On a number of occasions Fred rejects her company due to her inquisitive and foolhardy approach to life. However, as time passes, he realizes how much he begins to actually enjoy life once he lets Elsa into his life.

Throughout ELSA AND FRED, Elsa’s gift of gab and colorful imagination enable her to tell Fred compelling stories that are either exaggerations of the truth or just flat-out lies. In the beginning, Fred finds this completely exasperating, but in time he begins to accept Elsa as she is; especially, once he realizes that she’s on dialysis with possibly not much time to live.

Fred surprises Elsa with a deep longing of hers to travel to Rome and reenact a romantic scene from her favorite Italian movie.

ELSA AND FRED is a story beautifully told with grace and comedy throughout. Elsa stays her same vibrant, passionate self to the end despite her ailment, which she doesn’t disclose to Fred. Fred on the other hand undergoes great character change, and there is a defined character arc as he progresses from a hermit wallowing in self-pity to one of happiness, gratitude, and humility. Their travels to picturesque Rome are nicely captured. Close-up shots and times of intensity profoundly portray the struggles between their personalities as completely polar opposites.

While the movie is fairly family-friendly, caution for older children is warranted for a few obscenities and adult themes. The worldview of ELSA AND FRED is strongly moral. Although Elsa is no angel and is given to lies, bending the truth, leaving restaurants without paying, and other acts of mischief, she genuinely cares for Fred and helps bring him back to “the land of the living” after his wife’s death. Beneath his callous exterior, Fred has a heart that is soft toward Elsa and even his daughter, and he comes to express his love and compassion for them both before the end.

All in all, ELSA AND FRED is a heartwarming story of an older couple that meets later in life encouraging us to make the most of every moment—no matter how many or how few those moments may be.

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Elsa & Fred

• A withdrawn senior experiences life in new ways when he begins spending time with the free-spirited woman who lives across the hall.
• "Elsa and Fred" is the story of two people who at the end of the road, discover that it's never too late to love and make dreams come true. Elsa has lived for the past 60 years dreaming of a moment that Fellini had already envisaged: the scene in 'La Dolce Vita' at the Fontana di Trevi. The same scene without Anita Ekberg in it, but with Elsa instead. Without Marcello Mastroianni but with that love that took so long to arrive. Fred has always been a good man who did everything he was supposed to do. After losing his wife, he feels disturbed and confused and his daughter decides that it would be best if he moves into a smaller apartment where he ends meeting 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 it as he pleases. Fred surrenders to Elsa's frenzy, to her youth, to her boldness, to her beautiful madness. And this is how Fred learns how to live. When he learns about Elsa's terminal illness, he decides to make her dream come true and takes Elsa to Rome to reenact with her the famous scene at the Fontana di Trevi. — Unknown

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Elsa & Fred Movie Review

Elsa (MacLaine) is a colorful 74 year-old woman. She loves life, adventure, and more than anything, she embellishes everything she says. She merges her fantasy life with her real life, something that frustrates her new neighbor Fred (Plummer). Fred is a recent 80-year-old widower and somewhat disgruntled about life. It takes the effervescent Elsa to pull him out of his shell.

Elsa has always been entranced by the Fellini movie La Dolce Vita , and has longed to play out the scene in Rome’s Fountain of Trevi. She continually watches the movie and enjoys Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni’s Trevi fountain scene.

Elsa’s imagination is overwhelming, but charming. She is full of life, although she is a very sick woman. Elsa refuses to let her illness get in the way of her lust for life, and she takes it as a personal challenge to bring Fred out of his doldrums and show him all that life has to offer.

Fred is satisfied to stay locked-up in his apartment, and hates that his daughter (Harden) hired a caregiver to look after him. He is comfortable wallowing in his depression alone, and insists he doesn’t need anyone or anything. What Elsa teaches him is “everybody needs something.” Even “two old fools.”

This movie points out it is never too late to make your dreams come true. In this case, Elsa finally gets her dream of living out the fountain scene in Rome and discovers Fred is much better than Marcello Mastroianni.

There are several delightful scenes, notably the one in the restaurant and the one in the fountain. They will most likely have audience members thinking about them long after they leave the theater.

The movie is humorous, engaging, and utterly charming. It’s about time we had a great senior love story – especially with these amazing actors and ingratiating characters.

Elsa gets to live out the famous movie scene she has been dreaming about for 60 years. If you could, which movie scene would you want to live out? Elsa and Fred is rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as internet websites. She has written her own book,  Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists , from Sourced Media Books.

Follow her on  Twitter

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Elsa & Fred (2014)

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Where does Elsa & Fred rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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Elsa & Fred is 9380 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 5252 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) but less popular than Despite the Falling Snow.

After his daughter persuades him to move into a new apartment, aged widower Fred strikes up a friendship with his eccentric 74-year-old neighbour Elsa, who convinces him it's never too late to keep enjoying life. Although he seemed resigned to a miserable bedridden existence, Fred embraces Elsa's youthful enthusiasm as she introduces him to the path of life and entertains him with outlandish stories about her past life. But when he discovers Elsa's terminally ill, Fred decides to accompany her on the trip of her dreams to the eternal city of Rome to help her fulfil a lifelong ambition.

Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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