Youth is a masterful reflection of old age

L_a Grande Bellezza_ (The Great Beauty), was undoubtedly a masterpiece. Filled with art and symbolism, it left us in awe, as Italian director Paolo Sorrentino reflected upon life and death. This is partly why Youth is so widely anticipated, and also why it has received merely good or average reviews. Youth, however, although contemplating similar themes, is different in the sense that it was never intended to be as extravagant. Instead, Sorrentino aims for a lighter, more straight-forward, simple film. And that’s what most have failed to realise. In the end, Sorrentino’s touching tragicomedy, accompanied by virtuoso acting, deserves more praise than it has thus far received.

Youth is set in an Alpine luxury hotel & spa, surrounded by breath-taking scenery, where retired composer Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), best remembered for his Simple Songs, is spending his summer vacation with best friend Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel) and daughter-assistant Lena (Rachel Weisz). Fred, fantastically portrayed by Michael Caine, is an apathetic, somewhat cynical old man who avoids any emotional contact, leading his daughter to resent him. Fred thinks that "emotions are overrated," preferring to express himself through his music. Later-on in the film however, a more tender side of Fred is progressively revealed: someone who cares deeply for his daughter, largely appreciates Mick’s friendship, and, most significantly, who terribly, desperately misses his wife, Melanie, ceasing to find meaning in life without her.

Mick, on the other hand, is more sensitive. A widely recognised, but now washed-up film director, he is in the process of writing his final work. His "sentimental, intellectual and moral testament" as he puts it, the quite symbolically-titled: Life’s Last Day. Mick is writing the film for his old friend, who he greatly admires: Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda). Brenda appears in arresting cameos, reminding us what a legendary cinema figure Jane Fonda is. Rachel Weisz also gives an amazing performance; her character, Lena Ballinger, is married to Mick’s son, who leaves her for… Paloma Faith, playing a caricature of herself. Sorrentino is known for adding celebrity cameos in his films with questionable success. Here, Paloma Faith’s presence, criticised for being shallow and devoid of any meaning, is intended to mock today’s popular culture and succeeds in doing so.

In the hotel, Fred also meets and befriends Paul Dano’s Jimmy Tree, a young actor from California who – much to his discontent – is most famous for his portrayal of the robot ‘Mr Q’. Jimmy seems tired with fame and the Hollywood actor lifestyle that comes with it. He wants his acting to have a real impact on the world.

Repeated patterns are beautifully orchestrated by Sorrentino

The film begins with a slowly evolving plot, including amusing sarcastic casual dialogues between Caine and Keitel. A satirical touch is also present, like in the numerous scenes featuring an overweight portrayal of Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona. Surreal and visually indulging interventions, common for Sorrentino, frequently interrupt the plot, such as when Fred ‘directs’ a herd of cows in an idyllic Swiss scenery.

This light atmosphere gradually develops over a number of fore-shadowings and repeated patterns, beautifully orchestrated by Sorrentino, to reach a plot-twisting climax of highly unexpected and tragic events. All building-up to an overwhelming finale, for which the audience is being primed throughout the film. Fellini-esque scenes, never absent from Sorrentino’s work, also get their moments, the most characteristic being when Mick imagines a meadow full of his female protagonists; all performing their roles at the same time, it shows the great impact all these women had in his life, even though he never came to fully understand them.

Overall – overlooking the Paloma Faith moments – Youth is accompanied by music that fits well to its atmosphere; David Lang, with whom Sorrentino has previously collaborated in The Great Beauty, has created a wonderful, fittingly-simple, classical music score.

The first time the film’s title appears on screen, ironically enough, it flashes in front of a perfect row of semi-naked elderly women marching towards the hotel’s sauna. This scene emits right from the start a feeling of doom, associated with old age. Ultimately, Youth has a pessimistic outlook on growing old, or rather, a deeply realistic one; it is about aging and the losses that come with it. The loss of a loved one, the loss of memory, the loss of purpose in life, the loss of enthusiasm and talent. The heaviness of a dull daily routine. It is about the lustful craving of missed sexual experiences, the wasting of youth, and the nostalgia and melancholy associated with old age, the latter being beautifully summed up in Mick’s dialogue with his female screenplay co-writer, as she takes a look through both ends of a telescope: "This is what you see when you’re young – everything seems really close: that’s the future; and now… that’s what you see when you’re old – everything seems really far away: that’s the past".

Youth is also about simplicity, as Fred’s ‘Simple Songs’ reveal; easy to play, they are performed by only a small section of the orchestra. Nevertheless, as a young boy in the hotel points out to Fred, they are "not only simple, but really beautiful" too. With the loss of youth comes this appreciation of the simple moments in life that should have been cherished more. For Fred one of them is his wife Melanie; as he says, besides all they had been through, they liked to think of themselves ‘as a simple song’. We come to the realisation that emotions are everything but overrated; according to Mick, they are "all we’ve got", and by the end, Fred finally gives in to them, giving the film it's perfect ending.