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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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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.

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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.

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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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Elsa & Fred Reviews

A distracting cocktail of contrived ideas and easy resolutions.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 6, 2019

It stars Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer as a pair of neighbouring oldies, struggling to breathe life into a staid scenario with rote characters, but the duo's undeniable quality manages to warm things up.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 5, 2019

Elsa & Fred is only so-so.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2017

This story of love in the autumn of life is not without its charms, though it takes a crisp and well-judged performance from Plummer to balance MacLaine's shrill extravagance.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 16, 2016

Elsa & Fred is a sweet story that reminds you that it is never too late to make your dreams come true.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 7, 2016

Considering the CVs of all involved (not least Radford, who was Oscar-nominated for Il Postino) this remains little more than a gooey footnote.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 4, 2015

It is fatally lacking in wit and conviction, often playing more like a television sitcom than something that deserves a place on the big screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 1, 2015

Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer rise above the patronising cuteness imposed by co-writer/director Michael Radford (Il Postino) in this tale of a late-blossoming love affair.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 30, 2015

The film is so lightweight, it almost doesn't exist.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 30, 2015

While this geriatric romance is too simplistic and sentimental to be anything remarkable...

Delightful comedy about how an enthusiastic elder draws her depressed 80-year-old neighbor back into the land of the living.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 17, 2015

The esteemed charm of Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer helps to elevate this innocuous but woefully predictable romance.

Full Review | Dec 31, 2014

Unlike so many American remakes of foreign films, this reboot improves on the original, mostly because it takes full advantage of the star power of its English-speaking cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 18, 2014

A tale so old that some of the clichés have since grown up and had clichés of their own.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 26, 2014

Romance about aging and love is tender but falls flat.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 24, 2014

Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer bring class and depth to subpar material in the septuagenarian romance Elsa & Fred.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 10, 2014

As hard as MacLaine and Plummer try, the film can't sell their romance, because the script never conveys who the characters are beyond broad strokes.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 10, 2014

This movie is so tone-deaf that it tries to wring charm from questionable stereotypes about senior citizens and minorities.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 7, 2014

Uninspired, airless treatment and flat writing evaporate all the good will of anyone wanting to see a mature senior love story.

Full Review | Nov 7, 2014

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.

Full Review | Nov 6, 2014

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Elsa & Fred Reviews

• 52   Metascore
• 1 hr 48 mins
• Drama, Comedy
• Watchlist Where to Watch

The enchanting chemistry between Manuel Alexandre and China Zorrilla sparks this rewarding love story for the ages (or the aging). He's an elderly widower who's lost his zest for life; she's his perky new neighbor with a boundless lust for living. When they meet and get acquainted, romance blooms, showing that hope (and love) springs eternal. Blanca Portillo, Jose Angel Egido. Directed by Marcos Carnevale, who co-wrote the script with Lily Ann Martin and Marcela Guerte.

Sentimental, formulaic, predictable and shamelessly manipulative, Marcos Carnevale’s tale of late-life love is also genuinely heartbreaking and heartening, thanks to effortlessly nuanced performances by veteran actors Manuel Alexandre and China Zorilla. Reserved, recently widowed Alfredo “Fred” Ponce Cabeza de Vaca (Alexandre) has just moved into a handsome apartment in downtown Madrid, where he catches the eye of live-wire Elsa Oviedo de Riveros (Zorilla). Fred has lived his life for others: His by-the-book wife; his brittle daughter Cuca (Blanca Portillo); her husband, Paco (Jose Angel Egido), who’s always dreaming up pie-in-the-sky business ventures; and their spoiled son, Javier (Omar Munoz). Argentina-born Elsa, on the other hand, has always done exactly as she pleased, often to the dismay of her proper son, Gabriel (Roberto Carnaghi). Widowed for 27 years (or maybe 25; who cares about such trifling details?), Elsa has only one regret: She always dreamed of recreating the Trevi Fountain from LA DOLCE VITA (1960): By all reports she was a bombshell a la Anita Ekberg in her youth, but she never found her Marcello Mastroianni. Could she make over the hypochondriac Fred into the man of her dreams? Carnevale’s film is irrefutable proof that romantic comedy cliches know no age: Fred is the classic stay-at-home hypochondriac, afraid of life’s endlessly messy complications, while Elsa is the wacky, free-spirited gal who was born to draw him out of his shell. But the fact that Fred and Elsa are in the twilight of their lives adds a poignancy to their formulaic romance, and Zorilla and Alexandre imbue their roles with a lifetime of professional (and, one suspects, personal) experience. The result is hard to resist, especially since Carnevale puts his own spin on the shopworn material: Elsa isn’t just madcap; she’s a reckless liar. There’s more to the starchy Cuca than meets the eye, and less to the feckless Alejo (Gonzalo Urtizberea), whose artistic endeavors Elsa continues to support long after she should have stopped. It’s the details that add texture to the familiar narrative and give Zorillo and Alexandre room to shine. (In Spanish, with English language subtitles)

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Parents' guide to, elsa & fred.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 0 Reviews
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Common Sense Media Review

Romance about aging and love is tender but falls flat.

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…

Why Age 12+?

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

Some kisses. It's suggested that the two main characters end up sleeping togethe

Some social drinking.

Any Positive Content?

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

Elsa has a propensity for lying, and her behavior sometimes edges over the line

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.

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.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

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

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.

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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Movies | Review: ‘Elsa & Fred’

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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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Memories of La Dolce Vita

Elsa (China Zorrilla) and Fred (Manuel Aexandre): A love story.

Elsa and I have one big thing in common. We both love the famous scene in Fellini’s “ La Dolce Vita ” when Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni wade in the waters of the Trevi Fountain in Rome at dawn. That shared love is almost but not quite enough to inspire a recommendation for “Elsa & Fred,” which is a sweet but inconsequential romantic comedy.

Alfredo ( Manuel Alexandre ) has been a widower for seven months. He has been moved into a new apartment in Madrid, Spain, by his shrill daughter Cuca ( Blanca Portillo ). What would make him happier would be if she would stop micromanaging his life. His dog Bonaparte is better company. Through a Meet Cute involving a fender bender, he meets Elsa ( China Zorrilla ), an Argentinean neighbor in the same building.

They are both lonely, both looking for companionship. Alfredo is 78. Elsa says she is 77. Can you believe everything she says? On her wall, there is a photograph of Ekberg in the great Fellini scene. When she was young, Elsa tells Fred, she was a ringer for Ekberg — often mistaken for her. Now she is no longer young, but she begins to take on beauty in the eyes of her new admirer, and tentatively they begin a romance.

The structure of the film, directed by Marcos Carnevale of Argentina, is foreordained. They will flirt, grow closer, spat, make up, grow even closer and then time will inexorably exact some sort of toll. All of those things happen right on schedule, although the two actors give them a bittersweet appeal. Subplots involving a business deal and old secrets from the past are fitfully interesting. More entertaining are such stunts as how they deal with the bill in an expensive restaurant.

Spoiler warning: But what I really love is the film’s last act, when Alfredo fulfills Elsa’s lifelong dream. He flies her to Rome for the first visit of her life, and after seeing all the other sights, they do indeed wade in the Trevi Fountain at dawn, in a scene photographed to remind us vividly of the Fellini original. This scene holds me spellbound. It is true that Elsa no longer resembles Ekberg, if she ever did. But in her mind she does, and old Alfredo looks like young Marcello, and none of us look as we wish we did, but all of us can dream.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Elsa & Fred

• Jose Angel Egido as Paco
• China Zorrilla as Elsa
• Manuel Alexandre as Alfredo
• Blanca Portillo as Cuca
• Lily Ann Martin
• Marcela Guerty
• Marcos Carnevale

Directed by

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MacLaine and Plummer Can’t Save ‘Elsa and Fred’ From Mediocrity

But it’s a pleasure to watch them in action.

Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer . That’s all you need to know, and all a rom-com about senior citizens in love called Elsa and Fred is really about. Forced, contrived and slow as Christmas, it’s a pleasant enough time-waster, but what a treat to spend just under two hours in the hands of pros.

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Set for no reason in New Orleans, America’s most photogenic city, the movie contains not a single shot of the Crescent City worth noting. It might as well have been filmed in Cleveland or Hasbrouck Heights. This generic letdown is part of what ails the movie as a whole. It has no personality, and director Michael Radford ( Il Postino ) imposes no imprimatur of his own. It’s up to the two stars to leave a doddering stamp of distinction, and they’re pretty much on their own. Ms. MacLaine’s clarion call is somewhat muted as Elsa Hayes, an eccentric old biddy clinging to life on her own terms, rising above family intrusions and medical inconveniences. (She’s on dialysis, signaling trouble ahead, but she treats kidney failure as no less an infraction than a trip to the dentist.) When first we see her, she’s in bed watching La Dolce Vita and daydreaming she’s in a world created by Federico Fellini. This is something Ms. MacLaine would do, so it’s not difficult to relate.

Mr. Plummer plays her surly new neighbor, Fred Barcroft, a curmudgeonly widower who has pretty much given up on life and just wants to be left alone. Uprooted against his will by his daughter Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden) and her lazy husband Jack (Chris Noth) whom he loves “about as much as sciatic nerve pain” and moved into a condo replete with a combination housekeeper and home-care companion (Erika Alexander), Fred retaliates with cynical repartee meant for W. C. Fields, aimed at anyone who acts cheerful. “Anything you’d like in particular?” “Yeah, to be 30 years younger and have a prostate the size of a peanut.”

Fred spends most of his time in bed—a condition that does not escape the eagle eye of pushy neighbor Elsa. They meet cute when she backs into his daughter’s car in her aging orange roadster, smashing two headlights. Her oldest son Raymond—a conservative, button-down banker played by Scott Bakula—writes out a check to cover damages. Appealing to Fred’s sympathy with a torrent of hard-luck stories she makes up about her invalid granddaughter, she exchanges the check for cash, which she promptly uses to finance an art gallery opening for her youngest son Alec (Reg Rogers). Elsa’s penchant for flamboyant kimonos and her grief for the dead husband she still mourns after 27 years eventually wear down Fred’s resistance and a December-December love story takes shape, even after he meets her terminally ill granddaughter, who is the picture of health, at a colorful birthday party, where one of the guests is her dead husband (played by an especially robust James Brolin).

Although he no longer believes a word she says—most of all her insistence that Pablo Picasso once painted her picture—it doesn’t matter. Changes are already in motion. Elsa takes it upon herself to show Fred the road to life and love. She’s got him throwing away his medications, joining a ballroom dancing class and taking mid-afternoon bubble baths. Looking 20 years younger, he makes her dream come true by taking her to Rome to re-trace Fellini’s settings and re-live the actions of Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita . This extravagant postcard tour of the Holy City provides the movie with the kind of lush cinematography that ended on the cutting room floor in New Orleans. But it’s a diversionary tactic to distract from the fact that nothing much is going on anywhere at all. Remember the dialysis Elsa ignores, as well as the Picasso you just know will show up in the film’s brief, anti-climactic coda.

The only diversion in Elsa and Fred worth remembering is the dynamic MacLaine-Plummer charisma. Rarely have I seen two old-timers work so hard to bring so much life to a movie that is dead on arrival.

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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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Why do so many filmmakers think “Old People Fall in Love” is the only concept they need? Michael Radford’s banal effort is a typical AARPedy with two exceptions: Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer play the stereotypical seniors.

They invest this clichéd romantic comedy with some spirit, playing lonely strangers in the same apartment building. They have nothing in common other than age, but she’s pushy and he’s too worn down to object. We never really believe their romance, but the duo seem to be having a grand time playing flaky (her) and grumpy (him).

Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Noth, George Segal and James Brolin all appear briefly, in roles so limited they must have signed on simply to hang out with the legendary leads. That’s probably the only reason you’ll stick around, too.

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Elsa & Fred

Elsa & fred review.

By Rich Cline

While this geriatric romance is too simplistic and sentimental to be anything remarkable, its lively central performances add some badly needed subtext and make the film worth a look. Meanwhile, the supporting cast add some spark to their scenes, elevating the warm, silly drama with quirky humour and some more resonant themes. It's also remarkably honest about how it feels to grow older.

Set in New Orleans, the story starts as 80-year-old Fred ( Christopher Plummer ) is moved by his hyperactive daughter Lydia ( Marcia Gay Harden ) into a small apartment building. Fred's wife has recently died, but they didn't get along very well, so he's enjoying being on his own. Although Lydia's husband ( Chris Noth ) has yet another crazy business scheme he wants Fred to invest in. And his new next door neighbour is Elsa ( Shirley Maclaine ), a larger-than-life 74-year-old who claims to have once known Picasso. Her son Raymond ( Scott Bakula ) looks in on her from time to time, while she secretly supports her younger son Alec ( Reg Rogers ) in his artistic career. She also immediately starts trying to coax Fred out of his shell.

Obviously, the main idea is that you're never too old to fall in love, so director-cowriter Michael Radford (Il Postino) tries to balance a comedy about ageing with a sweet love story about an engagingly mismatched couple. The blend of genres is somewhat uneven, as the script never quite decides whether it's about making the most of the time you have left, being open to unexpected romance or accepting your family members for who they are. All of these big themes are in here, most with a fairly heavy-handed touch. But at least this means that the film is about more than just a bunch of goofy characters interacting in rather silly ways.

Yes, every character has essentially one quirky characteristic, but the actors are good enough to subvert them. MacLaine undermines the feisty-busy Elsa with a deep love of life, while Plummer makes the relentlessly grumpy Fred surprisingly likeable because of his innate curiosity. So when they come together, their romance is actually rather lively, a combination of wacky antics and underlying realism. As Elsa asks Fred, "In all your years on earth, how much did you laugh?" Thankfully, Radford never lets the film turn weepy, and the plot even takes a couple of oddball turns (including one relating to Elsa's favourite movie La Dolce Vita). There's also a surprisingly pointed comment on shifting relationships between the generations. And how much more dangerous it is to be afraid of life than of death.

Elsa and Fred Trailer

Facts and figures.

Year : 2014

Genre : Romance

Run time : 97 mins

In Theaters : Friday 7th November 2014

Budget : $10M

Distributed by : Signature Entertainment

Production compaines : Riverside Entertainment, Rio Negro, Media House Capital, Cuatro Plus Films, Defiant Pictures, Creative Andina

Contactmusic.com : 3 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes : 53% Fresh: 16 Rotten: 14

IMDB : 7.6 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director : Michael Radford

Producer : Matthias Ehrenberg , Ricardo Kleinbaum , Jose Levy , Edward Saxon , Nicolas Veinberg

Screenwriter : Michael Radford , Anna Pavignano

Starring : Shirley MacLaine as Elsa Hayes, Christopher Plummer as Fred Bancroft, Chris Noth as Jack, Marcia Gay Harden as Lydia Bancroft, Scott Bakula as Raymond Hayes, James Brolin as Max Hayes, Jared Gilman as Michael, George Segal as John, Wendell Pierce as Armande, Erika Alexander as Laverne, Lisa Sheridan as Dr. Sheridan

Also starring : Reg Rogers , Matthias Ehrenberg , Edward Saxon , Michael Radford , Anna Pavignano

• Elsa & Fred Movie Site

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