Elsa & Fred (2014)

"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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

Marcos Carnevale (original screenplay), Marcela Guerty (original screenplay)

Stars:

Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shirley MacLaine	...	Elsa
Christopher Plummer	...	Fred
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Lydia
Wendell Pierce	...	Armande
Jared Gilman	...	Michael
Erika Alexander	...	Laverne
Chris Noth	...	Jack
Scott Bakula	...	Raymond
George Segal	...	John
Reg Rogers	...	Alec
James Brolin	...	Max
Sam Medina	...	Taxi Cab Driver
Jackie Tuttle	...	Receptionist
Michael Hartson	...	Dance School Director
Deanna Meske	...	Laura

Storyline

"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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

wading in a fountain | cat | elderly man | elderly woman | portrait | 

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Taglines:

It's never too late.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA Canada Mexico Puerto Rico

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 November 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Elsa and Fred

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$744,504, 14 December 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cuatro Plus Films, Defiant Pictures, Creative Andina

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Elsa (Shirley MacLaine) is obsessed with the Federico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" and its stars Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg. In reality, Shirley MacLaine co-starred with Mastroianni in "Used People" in 1992 and with Ekberg in "Artists and Models" in 1955 and in "Woman Times Seven" in 1967. MacLaine also starred in "Sweet Charity" in 1969, a musical version of Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" made in 1957.

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Quotes

Elsa Hayes: Life is long, and when you've lived so many years, and you do things, and you don't think when you're doing them, that they matter all that much. And then one day you wake up and you realize that you managed quite a bit, and so much so that you can't even remember all of it.

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Connections

Features La Dolce Vita (1960)

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Soundtracks

I'm Living In A Great Big Way
Written by Dorothy Fields (ASCAP) and Jimmy McHugh (ASCAP)
Performed by Smoking Time Jazz Club
Used by Permission of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. (ASCAP) on behalf of Aldi Music
Published by Bourne Co. (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Slick and soulless...

American remake of the 2005 Spanish-Argentine co-production "Elsa y Fred" casts Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer as single oldsters living next door to each other in the same New Orleans townhouse, each with over-protective grown children, concerns about money and health, and a textbook of cranky-cute idiosyncrasies. Written and directed at a sitcom level, with dishonest characters and offensive sentiment. A good cast flounders; MacLaine tries creating a goosey, unflappable woman prone to giggling and full of neighborly good cheer, but she's covered much of this territory before (there are also uncomfortable parallels to "Used People"). Mildewy romantic comedy opens with a self-defeating first reel involving a not-funny fender-bender (following shots of Fellini's "La Dolce Vita") before settling into an unconvincing give-and-take between the leads. Not a single sequence rings true, the relatives are boors, while the laugh lines fall like wet sponges around the actors. *1/2 from ****