Forever Young
2022 · Directed by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Original language: French
- drama
- comedy
The story
At the end of the 1980s, Stella, Victor, Adèle and Etienne are 20 years old. They take the entrance exam to the famous acting school created by Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Romans at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre. Launched at full speed into life, passion, and love, together they will experience the turning point of their lives, but also their first tragedy.
What it’s like
Warm, hazy 1980s light spills through rehearsal-hall windows and cramped Paris apartments, with handheld camera that stays close to restless young faces during late-night arguments, dancing and stage work. Colours lean toward dusky reds, smoky blues and sweaty tungsten glow, and the soundtrack is period pop and new wave that gives way to long, aching silences. The mood is exuberant and bittersweet: a rush of youthful ambition and first love that slowly darkens as illness and drug use cast a shadow over the group. Pacing is loose and episodic, moving through rehearsals, parties and quiet morning-after scenes, and the emotional arcs follow friends who grow up fast and lose each other in stages. Intensity is moderate: drug use, frank sex scenes, hospital and sickbed moments, and grief handled with restraint rather than graphic detail, with no gore. It suits a rainy weekend or a late-night watch for viewers who enjoy messy, intimate ensemble dramas about art, friendship and the ache of growing older, and who can sit with melancholy without needing a clean resolution.
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