Old age. It used to be a subject people tried to avoid, but now, as Japan hurtles toward a super-aged society where almost 15 percent of the populace is over 75 years old, the general feeling is that we had better deal with it.

The response, according to British filmmaker Michael Radford ("Il Postino," "Flawless"), is not to increase public health care and senior citizens' facilities per se, but, he says, to "get older people interested in life and art — one of the best ways to do that is to have them go to the movies."

Radford's latest film, "Elsa and Fred," is a relationship story starring 80-year-old Shirley MacLaine (Elsa) and 85-year-old Christopher Plummer (Fred). At their advanced age, it's hard to imagine the characters the film starting a relationship, going out to dinner and acting like teenagers in love — but that's exactly what happens here. The film's raison d'etre seems to be to convey all the things that seniors are capable of doing; to show that they have a right to date and love, like everyone else.