Elsa y Fred (2005)

55% of critics liked it
(31 reviews)
92% of users liked it
(5,156 ratings)

Two aging Spanish widowers find their fading passion for romance unexpectedly rekindled during a visit to Rome's Trevi Fountain in this romantic comedy starring China Zorrilla and Manuel Alexandre. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 46 min.
Directed By: Marcos Carnevale
Written By: Marcos Carnevale, Marcela Guerty
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Jun 27, 2008 Limited
On DVD: Jul 5, 2006
Studio: Mitropoulos Films

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
This starts to get interesting in the homestretch, as the woman's chronic deception begins to catch up with her, but for the most part it's an extended Geritol commercial.
Dan Zak, Washington Post
Elsa & Fred feels not substantial enough to bear the weight of its themes. It dissolves like cotton candy, making proper digestion impossible.
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
For some, the movie will be an emotional paean to love at the twilight of life; to others, though, it's a contrived, manipulative film calculatedly sentimental and -- except for poor Alfredo -- totally false to life.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
Elsa & Fred is worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
A sweet but inconsequential romantic comedy.
Bob Mondello, NPR.org
Love is said to be blind, but this sweet Spanish romance suggests it may also be ageless.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Loads of erotic chemistry between these two Madrid geriatric lovebirds without the least benefit of raging hormones, a septuagenarian object of desire longing for a male with interesting vices, and screen dreams sexing it up, La Dolce Vita style.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
This transparent attempt to tug on the heartstrings doesn't work.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
Director Marcos Carnevale makes sure to get his ticket punched at every station in this journey through cinematic convention.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
In the end, only the veteran actors playing Elsa and Fred make the movie watchable.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Who would have guessed that, in this age of excess and one-upmanship, when bigger is always better, the year's most romantic screen kiss would last a mere two seconds.
Steve Davis, Austin Chronicle
The dream fulfillment seems more silly than romantic, and it brings the movie to an abrupt end that is wholly unsatisfying.
Jeanne Kaplan, Kaplan vs. Kaplan
When one thinks of on-screen chemistry, rarely, if ever, do you think of characters in their seventies.
David Kaplan, Kaplan vs. Kaplan
This little gem will have the mature moviegoer completely under its spell.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Elsa is obsessed with the "Fontana di Trevi" sequence from La Dolce Vita, but that's only a reminder that the aging Fellini once accomplished far more effective films about old age and second chances.

Read all 15 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

Absolutely charming, lovely little film that is sweet, funny, and a little bit sad. A little slow paced, but not at all boring. These two elderly people were quite enjoyable to watch. Plenty of laugh out loud chuckles...and definitely many, many smiles....
Manu G

Very good movie I know everyone excepts kids maybe would like to see and enjoy. Aging widowers Elsa and Fred visit the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the landmark from Fellini's "La Dolce Vita", and the experience rekindles their passion for love.
Walter M

In "Elsa and Fred," Fred(Manuel Alexandre) is a recent widower who sells his house and moves into a smaller apartment with his dog Bonaparte. Flush with cash, his son and daughter-in-law hope he will loan them the money for a new business. His new neighbor is Elsa(China… More
In "Elsa and Fred," Fred(Manuel Alexandre) is a recent widower who sells his house and moves into a smaller apartment with his dog Bonaparte. Flush with cash, his son and daughter-in-law hope he will loan them the money for a new business. His new neighbor is Elsa(China Zorrilla), a much less recent widow with two grown sons, one she supports and the other manages her money for her. She also claims to have resembled Anita Ekberg in her prime. "Elsa and Fred" is a mediocre movie that desperately wants to be likable with the timeworn theme of enjoying your life because time is short. And you know senior citizens should lead their own lives and not be used simply as ATM's, right? However, it suffers from a grating lead performance and reinforces more stereotypes than it challenges. In the end, it is the kind of movie that should have been made in Hollywood, since there would have at least been enough star power to distract from the lack of substance.
Yinalí R

I loved this movie a whole lot.
R?o?d?r?i?g?o? R

It's a great movie, a love story born in the older but felt as a youngster.