FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: The Man From Elysian Fields [DVD] [2001]

The Man From Elysian Fields [DVD] [2001]
enlarge	Director: George Hickenlooper Actors: Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, Julianna Margulies, Olivia Williams, James Coburn Studio: Entertainment in Video Category: DVD List Price: ~~£14.99~~ Buy New: £1.39 as of 25/11/2009 13:48 GMT details You Save: £13.60 (91%) New (25) Used (2) from £1.25 Seller: aardvark-games Rating: 4 reviews Sales Rank: 15383 Format: PAL Language: English (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 106 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5017239191985 ASIN: B0000TEW7I Theatrical Release Date: 2001 Release Date: January 26, 2004 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Add IThe Man from Elysian Fields/I to the list of essential movies about the pains of writing. This wry comedy-drama charts the frustrations of a financially strapped novelist (Andy Garcia) as he desperately and secretly agrees to be an "escort" for ladies who need, err, escorting. This leads him into a Faustian bargain to help a beautiful client (Olivia Williams) whose husband, a once-great, now-dying writer (a mighty James Coburn), is struggling with a final work. Of course the fact that the men are sharing a project and a woman complicates matters--and Garcia's loyal wife (Julianna Margulies) is curious about all these nights spent away. The movie explores different levels of compromise and betrayal, yet it remains tartly amusing throughout. And it has a glorious casting inspiration: the director of the mysterious escort service is played by Mick Jagger, looking decadently elegant and purring like a vaguely satanic Siamese cat. --IRobert Horton/I

Customer Reviews: The Man From Elysian Fields November 6, 2003 E. Sherman (London) 4 out of 4 found this review helpful This is a wonderful movie, highly intelligent and original -qualities hard to find in movies these days! It's so well written and the acting is impeccable. I really enjoyed it and will be sending my friends and family copies for Chrimbo. And no I don't work for the distributors! - I'm just an English trainer and writer who loves good movies. More than "American Gigolo" meets "Sunset Blvd." November 24, 2004 Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) 7 out of 7 found this review helpful At the beginning of "The Man from Elysian Fields," Byron Tiller (Andy Garcia) thinks he has reached the low point of his life. Having spent seven years writing a novel entitled "Hitler's Child" he finds his book has been marked down to $3.99 and can be found in the remainder bin. He gets to tell his wife, Dena (Julianna Margulies) that he has sold a book and garnered another few pennies of royalties, but we know that did not happen. Tiller has labored over his second book, about migrant workers, only to be told no one wants to read books about microcosms or with too much of that symbolism junk. But even this bad news is not the low point for Byron. That comes when he is approached by Luther Fox (Mick Jagger), who offers him employment at Elysian Fields, a male escort service. There are rich women who would pay to be escorted by someone with both looks and brains, and with no other prospects, Byron agrees to give it a try, giving credence to Fox's belief that, "A man can always support his family if he's willing to do what's necessary." pThe fact that Byron is a writer struggling to be a success is a major part of this story, but we get a bit distracted by the fact that screenwriter Phillip Jayson Lasker (who wrote episodes of "Barney Miller" and "The Golden Girls"), is doing a twist on the familiar idea of someone turning to prostitution to survive. Such stories are almost always about young women out on their own, they are not about married men with a child at home (as "American Gigolo" amply proved). Byron is assigned to escort Andrea Alcott (Olivia Williams), the wife of the famous writer Tobias Alcott (James Coburn), who is terminally ill. Byron once took a class on Alcott's Pulitzer Prize winning writings and even bones up on his works to be prepared to charm his wife. Of course, Mrs. Alcott wants to be more than merely charmed, and if Byron is not surprised that he can go through with it, then he is surprised that Alcott walks in on the scene and does not seem bothered by another man being in his wife's bed.pWhat is going to happen is probably obvious to us, but Byron starting descending through the various levels of his personal hell with the best of intentions. But while he lies with Alcott's wife he tells lies to his own, and it is just a question of which is the bigger mistake. What makes it all worthwhile is not the paycheck that he gets from Elysian Fields, but the rapport he establishes with Alcott and the offer that would be the answer to all of Bryon's prayers. There are some definite homages here to "Sunset Blvd.," but "The Man from Elysian Fields" is about a different type of suicide. My main problem with the script is that when Byron finds out finds out exactly how he has been victimized there is a way out of it (specifically a way of proving that which cannot be proven). But director George Hickenlooper's film will find what relative redemption it can offer in a different way.pThere are a couple of minor characters in this 2002 film that bring the storyline into sharp relief. Anjelica Huston plays Jennifer Adler, the one client that Fox still sees, and who provides him with a moment of brutal clarity that convinces him it is time for him to get out of this business. The other is Michael Des Barres as Nigel Halsey, the experience gigolo at Elysian Fields who teaches Bryon the ropes and who is forced to have his own moment of honest reflection when a question is asked by a most surprising client. What the two characters have in common is that while others may be visiting for a short while or a long time in this world, they will never be leaving. In our brief visit to these world we meet some interesting characters acting out a modern morality play. the man from elysian fields November 15, 2003 2 out of 2 found this review helpful A wonderful, witty unusual gem of a film. The film is the tale of a struggling writer (andy garcia)who is lured into the escort business by upper class escort director(a brillant Mick Jagger), Through this he is able to secure the biggest break of his career but in doing so he jeopardises his marriage. Contentment is the enemy of invention. October 5, 2009 PhilsterNo1 (England) 0 out of 1 found this review helpful I caught this late one night on TV and had to see it through to the end, even as three 'o' clock chimed. br / br /Andy Garcia is very good indeed as the failing novelist who finds his only available option, courtesy of Mick Jagger's gigolo-master, is to leave his wife and child home alone in the evening and moonlight as a paid companion for Olivia Newton. Her husband, a terminally ill major author (James Coburn) has written a bad final novel; Garcia is invited to help him rewrite it as co-author. Success beckons, or does it... br / br /Jagger, Garcia, Newton and Coburn all impress, the supporting cast are just fine and the story is excellent. A TV movie for after the kids have gone to bed. Count your blessings.

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