As necessity is the mother of invention, this story brings us to the essence of a man who will do anything to provide for his family, even if it means risking its demise. There are very provocative truths brought forth exposing a man's desperation and men's failure at self respect making them impotent. It reveals the grist that men share which drives them to achieve against all odds.Surprise actor, Mick Jagger, does an excellent job with his character, showing an ability never seen in his normal singing life. Andy Garcia is the core character, and with style, and respect to the struggle, handles the part as a pro.

A talented writer who's got a family and no money gets in touch with a sensual and mysterious man who offered him another way to earn money. From that point the film explores the relationship of the writer and his wife, till the sinking of their marriage. Explores the relation between the young writer and an old one, whose wife is hiring his services. And from all of that gets scenes with a high dramatical strength.But... at the end the film goes too far.They should cut off the last 10 or 15 minutes, where the writer is "saved" form his sins, and gets popular, and returns with his wife.All the excellent work is then somehow broken, the good things get blur.Great labor of all the actors, but specially of James Coburn.

'The Man from the Elysian Fields' harbors a very good shorter film inside. The story is of an unsuccessful writer trying to survive dry times by joining an escort service. As it happens, his first and almost only relation is with the attractive and young wife of a dying successful writer whom he joins in the writing of his last novel. I liked this part, which tells a lot about the parallel relation - sexual and professional - between the couple and their hired lover and ghost writer. The problem with the script is that this bright and original idea is wrapped in a much more conventional Hollywood like melodrama or romantic movie as they like to call it. The wrapping is much weaker and what is worse is the off-the-screen text read by the otherwise original character played by Mick Jagger. Acting is actually another good part of the movie, with Mick Jagger, James Coburn and Anjelica Houston giving good supporting acts. I am not a big fan of Andy Garcia, but he is better than the usual here. The two main feminine characters are acted OK, not more. Overall, an interesting movie, could have been better if the writer to writer theme was left unwrapped in melodrama. 7 out of 10 on my personal scale.

I am not really sure if I liked this movie or not. It started out okay but then somewhere it turned. Instead of trying to show what this man was doing to help his family it became sort of a morality tale but they wanted you to feel sorry for author. Why? He did it to himself I you will be able to tell. Yes bad things happened to him but he did it all to himself. The movie as a whole kept my interest and had some pretty good acting. I would watch this again but only under certain circumstances. This film is not a must see but is an okay watch.