Directed by Isabel Coixet. Written by Nicholas Meyer, based on the novel The Dying Animal by Philip Roth. With Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, Patricia Clarkson, Dennis Hopper, and Peter Sarsgaard.
I expected more from this film. Kingsley, Hopper, Cruz, Sarsgaard...Clarkson! All that crazy energy in one room, so to speak. With a nasty, self-loathing, misogynistic, old goat of a college professor who is vunerable to no one as he sleeps his way through his students. Wouldn't you expect some gnarly shit to happen? Well...I guess it does. But, it is so nice-i-fied, so flattened and softened up, even by the Vivaldi playing in the background, that it never engages fully.
Kingsley's David Kepesh cares for nothing but himself. Kepesh cares about books, music and art, but only for the pleasure he derives from them rather than any value they may have of themselves. He cares about women,too, has cared for many of them, and for the same reason he loves the arts. They make him feel more alive. But, the women he loves, in the same way as the books, the photographs, the music and things he surrounds himself with, are just objects, after all.
David sets his eye on, and eventually beds Cruz' character, Consuela. David is her professor. He is a quasi-celebrity author, and she falls for his seeming wisedom and stability. David becomes obsessed with Consuela. I know we are meant to believe he falls in love with her, but, he doesn't. It's obvious he only loves himself. It meant more to him to protect his ego then it did to show up at her graduation party. He was willing to hurt her, to spare his feelings. Fuck that.
At any rate, there were so many missed opportunities for something more. Something heightened, something unbalanced? Embarassing? Unexpected? Just when you think this man's obsession is going to become interesting and comical, the filmmaker goes near the edge and then turns around and runs back to safety. Every thing was a bit whitewashed for it's own good. If you're going to go there...go there.
The characters are interesting. The actors are proficient. There are some genuinely funny moments, and some real nice chemistry between Kingsley and Hopper, and Kingsley and Clarkson. I think it's worth seeing for Kingsley's performance alone. Whether you like him as an actor or not, there's always something worth looking at.
I'm gonna recommend with reservations...and give this film a C+.
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