The Man from Elysian Fields

Review by Clint Morris

It’s title may sound as old as moulding bread, but The Man from Elysian Fields is no less fresh than first of the morning buns.

And it’s themes as ripe as the icing sugar that adorns them.

A powerful piece about a fraught man’s search for security, fulfilment, and the significance of survival, Elysian centres on Byron Triller (Garcia), a stressed novelist who has mounds of difficulty supporting his young family.

Out of luck and out of nowhere, Byron meets a mysterious, upscale pimp, Luther (Mick Jagger), who thinks Byron would be an ideal addition to his escort service. At first he’s reluctant, but Triller ends up giving it a try – in turn voyaging down a path he can’t return from.

Triller’s regular patron just happens to be the striking wife (Olivia Williams) of great novelist Tobias Alcott (James Coburn). Funnily enough, Alcott even grants Byron full access to his wife – knowing full well he can’t satisfy her anymore anyway.

And in a strange twist of fate, Byron receives a juicy offer to help the illustrious author re-write his next – possibly final – great novel.

In the meantime, Byron has failed to take into contemplation his wife (Julianna Marguiles) and son, panicky at where the usually supportive husband and father has been going for all this time.

The Man from Elysian Fields is, simply put, a beautiful movie.

The performances are first-rate, especially from James Coburn, in what would become his final film. But not only him, as Garcia, Marguiles (looking more striking than ever), Williams and the unpredictably fantastic Mick Jagger, do wonders with their allotment.

Some may criticise the Hollywood ending and dramatic mechanisation that is littered throughout, but in this case I think it only makes the film that all the more universally appealing.

4 out of 5

The Man from Elysian Fields
Australian release: Thursday February 6
Cast: Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, James Coburn, Olivia Williams, Julianna Marguiles, Anjelica Houston, Michael Des Barres.
Director: George Hickenlooper.
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