Mrs. Bee's Rate O'Meter: Tell me this is what growing old is all about!

"Elsa and Fred" (2005) is a romantic comedy with two septuagenarians as subjects of an ill-fated love affair.  It begins with a lot of movement (Fred, recently a widower, is moving to a new apartment and    Elsa, who lives in the same building, runs into a car while backing up her car), a lot of bickering (his daughter is abrasive and high strung) and constant talking (Elsa is a talker with a wild imagination)!   Elsa and Fred are characters waiting for death at their doorstep but somehow manage to "fall in love" despite Fred's bent towards living an orderly life and Elsa's devil may care attitude about everything!  

One delicious scene is when they spiffy up to eat at a fancy restaurant.  Attention is drawn to the luxurious and extravagant high-ceilinged interiors and our old lovely couple barely sitting upright in chairs that seem to be sturdier than their ageing bodies. The meal begins with steak and ends with dessert, which causes Fred to complain that steak is bad for his uric acid and the mouth-watering dessert has too much cholesterol.  Elsa convinces him not only to live life to the fullest but in that same line of thinking, when the bill arrives with an amount much to their consternation, to leave the table at the count of 3 and the bill, unsettled!  Fred is aghast but at "3", our two lovers, wobbly in the knees, manage to escape and she drives them off quickly away from the scene of the crime.    They run out of gas in the middle of the road and their getaway, when they realize a police car is at their tail.  Fred is close to having a heart attack but the police car passes them by.  They look at each other.  Elsa is holding back a giggle, assessing the situtation.  Fred is upset, they exchange words and Fred points at her acknowledging she is---"loka, loka!...and demands to be brought to the hospital.  At the hospital, when the doctor says Fred is ok and Elsa is about ready to tiptoe out of the room thinking that the possibility of their life together is doomed, Fred orders her sternly to wait for him to take him home.  After a few serious looking seconds, Fred, suddenly, bursts into a fit of uncontrollable laughter and so does Elsa.  Oh, to be in love and loko-loko about it!

But, wait, there's more.  Elsa's ultimate dream is to re-enact Fellini's  "La Dolce Vita" at the Fontana di Trevi.  Fred helps her realize this long running ambition and it is one of the most    tender scenes played out  from the minute they arrive in Rome to that perfect cinematic dramatic moment.  The director, Marcos Carnevale, seems to be paying hommage to a great Master filmmaker, Fellini.

         

LIfe is beautiful, even with death just waiting round the bend, with Ms. China Zorrilla lighting up the big screen against Manuel Alexandre's subdued and well thought out acting.  It enlightens without being didactic that love that comes with wisdom and age is not about playing  games, or that inconsequential lies should be a basis for running out on a relationship, but about being in the moment with that person and loving every minute of it.