“Undertaking Betty” and “Elsa & Fred”. These are very satisfying on several levels, especially perhaps for us Baby-Boomers. Yes. Let’s indulge.
“Undertaking Betty” – (2002, United Kingdom, 94 minutes – rated PG-13)
This went by the title “Plots with a view” in the UK. Boris Plots (Alfred Molina) lives in the Welsh village of Wrottin Powys, where he runs a family business, a funeral home.
Boris lives alone with his cat Fred, so named after one of Boris’ passion: ballroom dancing.
Another lifelong passion of his is Betty Rhys-Jones (Brenda Blethyn), since they were 12 years old. Unfortunately, Betty is unhappily married to Hugh, a local politician who cheats on her with his secretary Meredith (Naomi Watts). The unexpected death of Hugh’s mother Dilys, who choked to death on her breakfast, is the event which reconnects Betty and Boris, now in their late forties. Soon, Boris concocts a plan to take Betty away from Hugh by faking her death.
Meanwhile, Boris’ rival Frank Featherbed (Christopher Walken) and his assistant Delbert (Lee Evans) try to convince the village’s dwindling population to put the ‘fun’ back in funerals with themed services, such as a hilarious Star Trek memorial you can see here:
“Undertaking Betty” has solid talents in veterans of television and film, as well as the sheer oddity of an American undertaker (Walken) in a Welsh village. The writing and direction are very lively throughout, making this a solid comedy, which also has a couple of cats to seal the deal.
The trailer, for once, gives a good idea of what the movie is about:
“Undertaking Betty” gets 4 jellybeans.
“Elsa & Fred” – (2005, Argentina, 108 minutes – rated PG)
Alfredo (Manuel Alexandre) is a recent widower prone to hypochondria, moved into an apartment in Madrid by his daughter Cuca (Blanca Portillo, of “Volver”) and her husband. His wife evidently used to organize their lives and Alfredo appears to be a bit lost and lifeless, simply waiting for the end. He reminded me a bit of the titular character of “Umberto D.” by Vittorio de Sica.
His next door neighbor, an elderly Argentine woman named Elsa (China Zorilla) who is extremely dangerous behind the wheel, backs into Cuca and her husband’s car busting the headlights. Cuca’s son witnesses the fender-bender and Cuca chastises Elsa later that day as she returns from her errands with one of her two sons, the ‘responsible’ one.
Watch the trailer here:
Despite this less than auspicious beginning, Alfredo piques Elsa’s interest and she slowly draws him out of his cocoon of misery. Elsa hates misery. She is slowly dying but wild thing that she is, refuses to feel sorry for herself, instead trying to bring poor Fred back to life.
I’m still not sure how she came to call him Fred, but I suspect it was a reference to her beloved director Frederico Fellini. One of Elsa’s dreams is to go to Rome and see the fountain from “la dolce vita”. She gets to see the Trevi fountain with Fred, in a wonderful scene:
“Elsa & Fred” is touching and funny, but it is not mushy, thank God. Elsa comes across as somewhat unpleasant, though you have to love the fact she couldn’t care less. Many people actually wish they could be that way. Fred certainly does, even, or maybe especially, after he finds out she lied to him about her age.
But she really is more of a story teller than a liar.
“Elsa & Fred” gets 4 jellybeans.
