Elegy is a 2008 drama film directed by Spanish director Isabel Coixet and adapted by Nicholas Meyer from the Philip Roth novel, The Dying Animal. The film stars Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, and Dennis Hopper, and co-stars Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard in supporting roles. The film is set in New York City, but was filmed in Vancouver.
David Kepesh is a cultural critic and professor, in a state of 'emancipated manhood': His relationships with women are usually casual, brief and sexual in nature. Previously married, he has a son who has never forgiven him for leaving his mother. His friend, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet George O'Hearn, suggests that he "bifurcate" his life: have conversations and enjoy art with a wife, and "keep the sex just for sex". David is also in a casual 20-year relationship with Caroline, another former student.
He encounters Consuela Castillo, a beautiful and confident student who attends one of his lectures. She captures his attention like no other woman, and they begin a serious relationship. George advises him to leave her before she leaves him, but David cannot bring himself to give her up. They are a couple for a year and a half, during which he continues to sleep with Caroline; neither woman knows of the other's existence.
Something ripped me open
From my little death woken
Fading rhythm of lifeline
Is music for a dead child
I'm skirting the rim, skirting the rim
Of reality
Skirting the rim
Love don't pull me in
Somehow everything is broken
Hours past and never replayed
I see the sickness of a love that
Though it breathes, can never be made
There are cracks where the white light burns through
It seems I see everything but the truth
Once more to that sacred place
The dream that sucks me under
I'm skirting the rim, skirting the rim
Of reality
Skirting the rim
Love don't pull me in
Somehow everything is broken
Hours past and never replayed
I see the sickness of love that
Though it breathes, can never be made
Somehow everything is clearer now
Hours pass with never a relief
I see the sadness of a moment