IT SEEMS to be a week for unconvincing screen couples. In Elegy, Sir Ben Kingsley’s arrogant college professor David Kepesh is overwhelmed by his attraction to shy student Consuela (Penelope Cruz).

Her youth and beauty are a painful reminder of his age and physical decline but he becomes obsessed with her. Even as he woos her, Kepesh is still unable to commit to a mature relationship with real emotional ties. He has spent his entire life keeping intimacy at arm’s length.

His long-term lover Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson) is someone he only meets for sex, his son Kenny (Peter Sarsgaard) regards him as a shining example of how not to lead your life and his best friend George (Dennis Hopper) glibly informs him that he should “stop worrying about growing old and start worrying about growing up”.

Based on the Philip Roth novel The Dying Animal, Elegy is executed with a sombre elegance but takes itself very seriously. Kingsley is convincing as the obsessive, hopelessly immature Kepesh and Cruz seems too worldly to capture the youthful innocence of Consuela.

She is so gorgeous and assured that it’s hard to believe she would give her college professor the time of day, let alone allow herself to be trapped by his destructive infatuation.