This movie review summarizes the 2005 film "Elsa & Fred" directed by Marcos Carnevale. The film tells the story of Elsa, an 82-year-old woman who has spent her life dreaming, and Fred, a 78-year-old widower. When they meet in their apartment building, Elsa bursts into Fred's life and shows him he needs to enjoy the precious time he has left. The review analyzes how the film conveys that age is just a number, we should live fully and follow our dreams, and it is never too late to love. It concludes that the one thing that truly matters in life is to love and be loved.

1. University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo
English Department
Ingl-3201-LC0
Final Work:
Movie Review
Movie: Elsa & Fred
Presented to: Prof. I. Arce
Presented by: Coralys N. Santiago
December 8, 2011

2. About the Movie “Elsa & Fred”
“Elsa & Fred”is a dramatic comedy released on 2005. This movie is the story of a
delayed love. A story of two lives that, at the end of their journey, discovered it is never
late to love or to dream. Elsa is 82 years old and has spent 60 years dreaming with a
moment which she had seen in the movie “La Dolche Vita”. She wished to live a
moment just like that one, with herself being in the place of Anita Ekberg and that love,
that took so long to appear, in the place of Marcello Mastroiani. Alfredo is younger than
she (78 years old) and when his wife passed away, he decided to move to a smaller
apartment; that is where he meets Elsa. Since that moment everything transformed.
She bursts into his life like a tornado, decided to show him that the time of life that he
has left is precious and he needs to enjoy it. Fred lets himself be swept away by her
intrepidity and her beautiful madness. That is how Fred learns to live.
This film was directed by Marcos Carnevale; written (in Spanish, with English
subtitles) by Mr. Carnevale, Lily Ann Martin and Marcela Guerty; director of
photography, Juan Carlos Gómez; edited by Nacho Ruiz Capillas; music by Lito Vitale; art
director, SaturIdarreta; produced by José Antonio Félez; released by DistrimaxInc and
Mitropoulos Films. With: China Zorrilla (Elsa), Manuel Alexandre (Fred), Blanca Portillo
(Cuca), Roberto Carnaghi (Gabriel), José AngelEgldo (Paco) and Gonzalo Urtizberea
(Alejo). The running time of the film is 1 hour 46 minutes.

3. What really matters in life?
This is a very commonly asked question. What are those things that really matter
in life? Some might say money; others might say love or happiness. But… which is
correct? We can find a very good answer to this question in the movie “Elsa & Fred”. I
decided to watch this movie and review it because of the beautiful messages it
transmits to everyone that watches it. Messages like, age is just a number, live your life
to its fullest, it is never late to love, follow your dreams, and many more.
Elsa is a spontaneous woman, revitalized by the years, in her spirit, although
debilitated by them in her body. A woman with the same desire to live her life as any
young person on his or her twenties; a woman in whose eyes youth still shines, as well
as the beauty of which she was owner.Alfredo is a new widower: uncertain, depressive
and hypochondriac. He still keeps the mourning by the death of his wife and the pain is
shaped in its face as a grayish veil that gives him more years than those he has.During
his whole life, Alfredo always followed the rules. He did what he had to do, when he had
to do it and how he had to do it. His life passes normally, without many surprises,
without taking many risks.Elsa and Fred met because they live in the same building.
Otherwise, destiny would have conspired so that this story took place. One so different
one from the other and at the same time so alike: Elsa with fear of rejection, Alfredo
with fear to forget his wife by giving himself to a new love. The love for these two
people is a reality, a past and a possibility, every timethey see each other in the eyes.
Elsa is for Alfredo the possibility of taking risks, to live his life, to leave the self-
imposed death to which he was relegated because of the pain his widowhood caused. It
is perhaps the last opportunity to smile again, to leave behind his multiple diseases and
also let go of all the useless tablets. Elsa is for Fred, the possibility to stop seeing the
world as a threatening place and to open his arms to the life that he has left. Fred is for
Elsa, the possibility of living an illusion; he is the last smile she sees before taking a step
into eternity, the opportunity to see, maybe for the last time, the beauty of life when it
is shared with somebody.Fred is for Elsa the possibility of being happy and to take
happiness to another’s heart that, although tired, still knows how to vibrate in a
harmony for two.
“Elsa & Fred” is a humanistic film because it can touch us without much
adornment and the protagonists are human beings with problems, fears, ills, and
illusions, as typical as ours. Love here is an innocent discovery that hides in all the small

4. things in life and in the subtlety of the details, like finding “I love you” written on the
kitchen’s chalkboard, or a visit to the doctor after a tachycardia. Ti is the confirmation
that it is worth to take the chance and accept the invitation to spend a life with another
person, for the passion of shared dreams and for that new light with which things are
seen when in love.
This film is an invitation, as the one that Elsa does to Fred, to let itself blush by a
glance and to let itself surround by a love made of smiles, amiable words, dates, and
more.A simple and sincere script, a putting in scene without pretensions and the
impeccable and unforgettable acting of the Spanish Manuel Alexandre (“El Caballero
Don Quixote”) and of Uruguayan China Zorrilla (“Conversaciones con Mamá”), make of
this film a trip full of situations that moves and teaches that passion does not have an
age and that life, like the love, must be lived until its last moment. It is not hard to figure
out that the one thing that really matters in life is to love and be loved.