Elsa and Fred (2014 film)
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Elsa & Fred is a 2014 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Radford and starring Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. The film, set and filmed in New Orleans, is an English-language remake of the 2005 Spanish-Argentinian film of the same name.
Contents
Plot
The recently widowed, 80-year-old Fred Barcroft is moved against his will, by his daughter, into an apartment in New Orleans, next door to 74-year-old Elsa Hayes. Fred has become an embittered, inactive realist who spends most of his time lying down; Elsa is a flighty, vivacious romanticist who dreams of "the sweet life in Rome," as experienced by Anita Ekberg in the 1961 film La Dolce Vita. Despite their opposite temperaments and outlooks on life, they fall in love.
Elsa coaxes Fred out of his shell but tries his patience by telling him several lies about herself. She claims to be a widow and hides her severe kidney disease which requires dialysis. He doesn't know whether or not to believe her claim that Pablo Picasso did a painting of her, which she has in a safe to which she has misplaced the key.
When he finds from his doctor friend John that she is probably dying, he takes Elsa to Rome to fulfill her dream of wading (like Ekberg) in the Trevi Fountain, rather than investing in his son-in-law's dubious business venture. After she dies, her son opens the safe and gives Fred Picasso's painting, which she wanted him to have.
Cast
Production
The film was shot on location in New Orleans because of tax incentives, according to MacLaine. Plummer declared he does not consider it a remake of the 2005 film, as "Shirley and I, and Michael totally rewrote it. So I prefer to think of it as the English-language version."
The scene in Rome where MacLaine and Plummer wade into the Trevi Fountain is shot in black and white, to mimic the corresponding scene in La Dolce Vita.
Release and reception
During the 2014 Miami International Film Festival in March, Elsa & Fred received a "roaring response", according to John Anderson of IndieWire. In September, at the 2014 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, it was awarded the Audience Choice Award. However, Rich Heldenfels said the film "was not well received" and pointed out that Box Office Mojo reviews "are mostly negative".
The film was released by Millennium Entertainment in the United States on November 7, 2014 in select theaters.