Elegy

» Opens today at the Broadway Centre Cinemas; rated R for sexuality, nudity and language; 108 minutes.

If one is to endure an aging professor's self-indulgent testimonial to his lost libido, hearing it in the honeyed voice of Sir Ben Kingsley makes it bearable. And seeing the lovely Penélope Cruz as the object of his musings makes it quite pleasant. In this adaptation of Philip Roth's "The Dying Animal," Kingsley plays David Kepesh, author and New York cultural icon, who pursues one of his students, Consuela (played by Cruz), at first vowing only a brief fling but soon becoming infatuated with and possessive of her. The movie is constantly at odds with itself, with Kepesh's male entitlement - defended by Kingsley and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer (who also adapted Roth's "The Human Stain") - frequently assailed by director Isabel Coixet ("My Life Without Me"), Cruz and Patricia Clarkson (as Kepesh's sometime fling). In the end, Coixet's gentle hand and Kingsley's elegant voice give the movie a stately equilibrium.

The Last Mistress

» Opens today at the Tower Theatre; not rated, but probably NC-17 for explicit sexuality and nudity; in French with subtitles; 115 minutes.

It's hard to tell what motivated French director Catherine Breillat to try to bring her in-your-face sexual gamesmanship (seen in the confrontational "Fat Girl" and the godawful "Anatomy of Hell") to a 19th-century period piece. Though Breillat loads up the sex in this tale - told by the soon-to-wed Ryno de Marigny (played by Fu'ad Ait Aattou), a libertine nobleman recalling his nights with his scandalous Spanish mistress, La Vellini (played by Asia Argento) - there's little chemistry between the lovers, and scant connection to the meddling nobles we see conspiring to stop Ryno's wedding to the virginal Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). Argento, best known to U.S. audiences as Vin Diesel's arm candy in "XXX," is a feral beauty who devours everything in her path, and a perfect actress for Breillat. But the director seems hemmed in by the period finery, and the movie is a self-conscious yawn.

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