ELSA & FRED
Director: Michael Radford
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Noth, Scott Bakula, George Segal, James Brolin, Erika Alexander, Wendell Pierce
Rating: PG
Two stars (out of five)
He was unhappy about the move but soon began a love affair with his young-at-heart neighbour Elsa and under her influence started to enjoy life again.
It was one of those nice films of which you remember the performances rather than the plot.
Elsa & Fred (Rialto) is an American remake with New Orleans standing in for Madrid.
I had high hopes as Elsa is played by Shirley MacLaine and Fred by Christopher Plummer, two actors who know how to squeeze the most out of a script.
In fact the performers did not let me down: MacLaine brought her own daffy charm to the role and Plummer's Fred is more of a counterweight to the mercurial Elsa.
Watching these two old hands delight in striking sparks off each other is so enjoyable it took me a while to notice that my pleasure was being soured by the additions made to the script.
For some reason American film-makers have a hard time with ambiguity so they have gone through the Spanish screenplay and prettied it up so that you know everyone's feelings at every step.
You never once have to call up your own imagination and knowledge of human behaviour to puzzle out what Elsa is up to as she almost immediately confides in someone what her motivations are.
A neater movie, however, is not a better one.
- Christine Powley
