The Man from Elysian Fields

Plot

After one book that ended up in the remainder bins, novelist Byron Tiller's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife. Desperate for any kind of income, he meets Luther Fox, an Englishman who runs an exclusive escort service called Elysian Fields, and is offered a job.

Hiding his new employment from his wife, Byron finds that one of his clients, Andrea, is married to a much older, ill Pulitzer Prize-winning author whom Tiller greatly admires. Complications develop as he develops a relationship with the author, essentially cowriting his latest book. Tiller faces new challenges as he tries to separate a professional obligation to the wife, his client, from a professional interest and responsibility to a fellow writer, her spouse.

Cast

Reception

Although it had a mixed critical reception, at Metacritic, it was hailed as "One of the Best Films of 2002" by critic Roger Ebert. It received mixed reviews from film critics on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. As of 2014, based on 70 critic reviews, the film had a Tomatometer rating of 51% Fresh (5.9/10 average). It fared less well from Top Critics, with a Tomatometer rating of 37% Fresh (5.3/10 average). Audiences were slightly more positive, rating it 54% Fresh (3.3/5 average).