Elegy

“When you make love to a woman, you get revenge for all the things that defeated you in life.”

I can count on one hand the movies that changed me. Saw Elegy my first year of grad school. Permanent influence on how I view beauty, friendship, intimacy, mortality. Had direct impact on real-life action. Read The Dying Animal by Philip Roth shortly after discovering this was an adaptation of his book. I still remember that walk to the university library to pick up a copy.

“You tasted it. Isn't that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That's all we're given in life, that's all we're given of life. A taste. There is no more.”

Elegy is a meditation. Isabel Coixet directs from her soul. Ben Kingsley, Penélope Cruz, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson, and Peter Sarsgaard comprise the dream ensemble. Not a single false note or weak link. Complex, nuanced, distinct. Singular lines haunt me when I least expect them. “Does War and Peace become a different book because we read it?” “Beautiful women are invisible.” “I don’t know what poetry is, but I recognize it when I hear it.” “Did the right time ever come?”

I rewatch Elegy to recenter. It is a precious film indeed that can return you to yourself.