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Poster for Elsa & Fred

Elsa & Fred

2005 · 1h 48m · PG Comedy, Drama, Romance
Directed by Marcos Carnevale

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Overview

When the retired seventy-seven years old hypochondriac widower Fred moves to an apartment in Madrid, his temperamental daughter Cuca has an incident with his next door neighbor, the elder Argentinean Elsa. Later, they meet each other and Elsa seduces Fred with her reckless behavior and view of life and they have a romance.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
55%
Tomatometer
Rotten

In the end, only the veteran actors playing Elsa and Fred make the movie watchable.

John Hartl, Seattle Times
Rotten

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.

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Rotten

Elsa & Fred feels not substantial enough to bear the weight of its themes. It dissolves like cotton candy, making proper digestion impossible.

Dan Zak, Washington Post
Fresh

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.

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
Fresh

Elsa & Fred is worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

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