Youth
2015 · Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Original language: Italian
- comedy
- drama
- romance
The story
Two lifelong friends bond whilst vacationing in a luxury Swiss Alps lodge as they ponder retirement. While Fred has no plans to resume his musical career despite the urging of his loving daughter Lena, Mick is intent on finishing the screenplay for what may be his last important film for his muse Brenda. And where will inspiration lead their younger friend Jimmy, an actor grasping to make sense of his next performance?
What it’s like
Hazy mountain light and sun-warmed stone, with the spa pools steaming in the cold air and a hotel of rigid, symmetrical corridors that the camera glides through in slow, composed tracking shots. Sorrentino's frames are lush and deliberately stylised, full of gilded interiors, fixed stares and sudden surreal tableaux, all set to a swelling orchestral score that gives way to long stretches of quiet. The mood is wry, melancholy and oddly tender, a sort of elegant drift: witty and sometimes absurd, but always circling back to regret and the stubborn wish to still make something. Its rhythm is unhurried, built on conversations held in deckchairs and bathrobes, with long pauses that let the faces do the talking. The two older men, an ageing conductor and a restless filmmaker, slowly reckon with their pasts while a younger actor searches for himself, and the emotional register stays dry, humane and bittersweet. Expect frank sexual content and nudity, some crude humour and a few sharp exchanges of adult cruelty, but no violence. It suits a slow, reflective evening or a quiet solo watch, and it is for viewers who enjoy stylish, talky films about aging, art and the loose ends of a life.
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