elsa & fred

Director: michael radford

Actor: shirley maclaine,christopher plummer,marcia gay harden,wendell pierce

Data Published: Thu Oct 30 2014

Genres: Comedy,Drama,Romance

Key Words: wading in a fountain,cat,elderly man,elderly woman,portrait

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2113659/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa_%26_Fred_(2014_film)

Description: Elsa & Fred is a movie starring Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, and Marcia Gay Harden. A withdrawn senior experiences life in new ways when he begins spending time with the free-spirited woman who lives across the hall.

Plot: The recently widowed, 80-year-old Fred Barcroft is moved by his daughter, against his will, into an apartment in New Orleans, next door to 74-year-old Elsa Hayes. Fred has become embittered, considers himself a realist, but spends most of his time lying down. Elsa is a flighty, vivacious romanticist who dreams of "the sweet life in Rome," as lived 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. Fred doesn't know whether or not to believe Elsa's claim that Pablo Picasso made a painting of her. She says that she has it in a safe, for which she has misplaced the key. Erika Alexander plays the aide Laverne, who regularly cares for Fred. As she sees him daily, she provides a lively counterpoint and commentary on his developing relationship with Elsa. When Fred learns from his doctor friend John that Elsa is probably dying, he takes her to Rome to fulfill her dream of wading (like Ekberg) in the Trevi Fountain. He chooses this rather than investing in his son-in-law's dubious business venture. After Elsa dies, her son opens her safe and gives Fred the painting by Picasso, which Elsa bequeathed to him.