From NetFlix:

After failing to get his latest book published, a Los Angeles novelist (Andy Garcia) finds it difficult to pay the bills and support his wife (Julianna Margulies) and son. He’s compelled to take a job with an elite male escort service called Elysian Fields (run by Mick Jagger) … which leads to him having an affair with the beautiful wife (Olivia Williams) of one of the world’s most successful writers (James Coburn), whom he also befriends

Again thanks to NetFlix for suggesting this touching, sad, well-written, beautifully acted small gem of a film. How is it that conversations in films can fall flat but some, even with somewhat ordinary content, can just sparkle and feel perfectly natural and right ? I guess it is a tribute to the actors in this film.

At first the Puritan in me rebelled against the idea that an author dying of diabetes would want his wife to be sexually satisfied by a male escort but eventually I bought into the idea. This film is neither tawdry nor titillating. Somehow it all just works.

Be prepared for some nasty plot twists. Be prepared for real sadness.

Nine years may not be a long time, but the actors’ physical appearance has changed a bit. Andy Garcia was incredibly handsome. For a while I did not recognize Julianna Margulies who is now having an enormous success in the wonderful TV series “The Good Wife”. I also did not recognize Olivia Williams as the prim, bespeckled but caring teacher in the film An Education (2008). And who knew that Mick Jagger was such a good actor. James Coburn is perfect as the obliging and dying famous author.