Elsa & Fred

After losing his wife, elderly Alfredo moves into the flat his daughter has arranged for him. His neighbour across the hall is Elsa, in her eighties, a liar, ungoverned by rules and determined to live. A late love begins between them. Elsa wants one thing: to step into a fountain in Rome and live that scene from La Dolce Vita in her own body. Marcos Carnevale directed. Cina Zorrilla plays Elsa, Manuel Alexandre plays Alfredo. It is an Argentine and Spanish co-production and drew large audiences in both countries. The idea is plain: an objection to old age being accepted as a waiting room. Elsa knows about her own death and presents it to nobody as a burden. Much of the emotional effect comes from the rapport between the two leads, both classic figures in their own countries. The Rome scene closes the film, and permission was genuinely obtained to shoot at the Trevi Fountain. It was remade in America in 2014 with Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. Who it is for: viewers who like late-life love stories and Spanish-language family films. Who it is not for: anyone put off by emotional manipulation; the film prepares its ending openly.