A grumpy old man and a dotty old lady share a moment of late-life bliss in the geriatric romantic comedy “Elsa & Fred.” Because that fun couple are played by Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine, the movie’s too-cute concept yields more rewards than you might reasonably expect.
Ms. MacLaine, in her flamboyantly twinkly, upbeat mode, plays Elsa, a frisky woman of a certain age with a vivid imagination and serious health issues that she keeps to herself. (Her character claims to be 74 but seems at least a half decade older.) Mr. Plummer plays her New Orleans neighbor, Fred, the widower next door with a bad attitude and a refrigerator filled with medications, waiting for the curtain to close on his final act.
“Have you heard of the living dead?” he says early in the movie. “I am that rare case of the dead living.”
The movie, directed by Michael Radford (“Il Postino”) from a screenplay he wrote with Anna Pavignano, is an English-language adaptation of a reasonably well-regarded Argentine film. It is also a valentine to Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita.” Elsa has a poster from that cinematic landmark on her wall. In her hyperactive fantasy life, her ultimate dream is to re-enact the scene in which Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni splash about in the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
“Elsa & Fred” has the usual complement of younger characters who treat these proud, eccentric oldsters with condescension posing as concern. The worst of them, Fred’s greedy son-in-law, Jack (Chris Noth), is a parasitic rageaholic who is impatient to get his hands on his father-in-law’s money. Jack’s wife, Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden), vacillates between sympathy and exasperation. You can say this on behalf of Lydia and Jack: They don’t try to pack their elders off to a nursing home.
Elsa regales Fred with a raft of personal adventures, many of which are not true. When confronted with a lie — and she tells some whoppers — she is shamelessly unapologetic. After all, they don’t really hurt anybody. And don’t they make life more interesting?
This zany joie de vivre awakens Fred’s dormant lust for life. Under Elsa’s tutelage, he begins taking walks, and in a rebellious act that appalls Lydia, he empties his medications into a toilet. It isn’t long before Elsa and Fred are passionately declaring their love. They sleep together, although it’s not clear if they actually have sex. The screenplay largely skirts looming health and money issues.
Ms. MacLaine and Mr. Plummer make an especially compatible match, because his understated portrayal of a despairing misanthrope reins in her scenery-chewing exhibitionism. You’ll have to watch the movie to find out whether Elsa, as she claims, was actually painted by Picasso.
“Elsa & Fred” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has brief strong language.