DVD Review: Elsa & Fred

Elsa & Fred is the story of two elderly neighbors who strike up a friendship which develops into something special for both of them, and for the film’s audience. It has an excellent cast, with Shirley MacLaine as Elsa and Christopher Plummer as Fred, and supporting performances by Marcia Gay Harden, Scott Bakula, James Brolin, Erika Alexander and Chris Noth.

The film opens with a moving company bringing in Fred’s possessions, under the unwanted supervision of Fred’s daughter Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden). There’s a cute moment where she makes a demand of the building’s supervisor, leading him to make a phone call: “Get me a ladder. Yeah, I know. I hate ladders, and I’m always falling off ‘em, but this woman is driving me crazy.” Fred’s wife has died, and he’s moving into an apartment on his own. Though he says he can look after himself, Lydia worries about him being alone and has hired a caregiver, Laverne (Erika Alexander, in a really good performance).

It isn’t long before Elsa and Fred meet. Upon hearing that Fred’s wife died only seven months ago, Elsa tells him: “The first year is the most painful. But you’ll get over it.” Fred replies: “I’m already over it. We hated each other.” Fred is adorably grumpy and wishes to stay inside all day, while Elsa is decidedly more active, though with an equally active imagination and a slight obsession with the film La Dolce Vita, leading to several fabrications. She lives a life much of her own creation, which is admirable even when it leads to mendacity.

Fred is unhappy, and you get the feeling he’s been that way throughout most of his life, in large part because an accident kept him from pursuing his one real love of performing music. Though Fred is the grumpy old man, Christopher Plummer never lets the performance drift into cliché. Fred feels like a real person. Partly this is due to the writing, as when Fred explains that he’d rather do nothing at this point than to do things with mediocre results. You can feel both the frustration and the pride when he tells Elsa: “I don’t do anything so-so. I never have, until now. Now I’m old, everything is so-so.”

There are so many wonderful moments, like when Fred goes to buy flowers and admits to the clerk he has no idea what to purchase. The clerk asks if this is his first time buying flowers for the woman, and he says yes, so we assume the flowers are for Elsa. But we then see him placing them on his wife’s grave, which says so much about him, about his life, about their marriage, their relationship, and about where he is now. So much is done with just a couple of very short scenes.

Sure, some stuff seems contrived, like Fred’s kitchen pipes exploding. And I could do without the scene where they leave the restaurant without paying the bill (a scene we also saw in Le Week-End). But this is a sweet and completely delightful film, which is also often quite funny. It really hinges on the two main performances, which are both excellent. These are two actors who are just so enjoyable to watch. The film, by the way, is based on the 2005 Argentinian film Elsa Y Fred.

Special Features

The DVD includes a featurette on the making of the film, with interviews with director Michael Radford, producer Ed Saxon, cinematographer Mike McDonough, as well as cast members Christopher Plummer, Shirley MacLaine, Marcia Gay Harden, Erika Alexander, James Brolin, Scott Bakula, Chris Noth and Jaime Camil. About Elsa, Shirley MacLaine says, “She’s the hardest character I’ve ever played.” There is also some behind-the-scenes footage, including some shots of Christopher Plummer playing piano. This featurette is approximately nineteen minutes.

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Elsa & Fred was released on DVD on December 30, 2014 through Millennium Entertainment.