Literary

I have seldom seen a film based on a novel which has impressed me quite as much as the book itself has. Luckily, every rule has its exception!

I discovered Philip Roth a while ago and have come to appreciate his often very explicit, cynical, sometimes rude yet always ingenious style of writing.

"The Dying Animal" is a piece of work about an ageing literature professor, who engages in a liaison with an attractive student, and due to his utter inability to commit in an emotional way - decides to end the relationship. The story - which on its surface may appear  as banal and fullfilling a cliché - is enriched with an incredible depth of the characters and addresses fear of senescence, lust overruled by undecisiveness, fear of being ridiculed and mortality and vulnerability of the human being, irrespective of age.

The movie "Elegy", starring Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz, is an exceptional work by Isabel Coixet, a Spanish Catalan film director who did an amazing job interpreting the novel and bringing it to our screens with stunningly beautiful scenes of a human relationship.

I would recommend to read the book first and watch the movie subsequently.

Both are available on http://www.amazon.com/