Michael Caine embraces age in body and mind
Actor recalls the Queen’s sense of humour as a backdrop to his new movie Youth
CANNES, FRANCE— Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth not only has a sense of humour, she likes to tell jokes, Sir Michael Caine advises the masses.
This may run contrary to popular opinion and certainly it does to the plot of Caine’s lyrical new movie Youth, which premiered Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival.
But Sir Michael insists it’s true. “I was at a party with her once,” the 82-year-old British acting legend and two-time Oscar winner told a news conference, following an early-morning screening of Paolo Sorrentino’s Palme d’Or competition film.
“And there was a very dull man on her other side.
“And she eventually turned to me and said, ‘Mr. Caine, do you know any jokes?’ ”
“And I said, ‘None that I could tell you!’ And she said, ‘While you’re thinking of one, I’ll tell you one.’ ”
“And the most annoying thing is, I can’t remember what the joke was!
“But anyway, she has got a great sense of humour.”
Hard to tell if Caine was winking up there, on a brightly lit stage alongside his Youth co-stars Jane Fonda, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz and Paul Dano.
But the Queen’s sense of humour is very relevant to Sorrentino’s film, a delight at Cannes 2015 from the Italian writer/director.
Youth can’t be ruled out as a Palme contender, despite a mix of cheers and boos heard during the credits in the Grand Théâtre Lumière, since the prize jury includes such lovers of the absurd as the Coen Bros. and Guillermo del Toro. An acting award for Caine is another strong possibility.
Recalling Sorrentino’s Oscarwinning The Great Beauty, with its striking visuals and bittersweet ruminations, Youth stars Caine as retired composer and conductor Fred Ballinger, who seeks rest and relaxation in a Swiss spa hotel in the foothills of the Alps. An emissary for the Queen informs him that Her Majesty would be delighted to have him come out of retirement to conduct a special performance of his Simple Songs, a suite of tunes Fred has grown to abhor.
“Her Majesty the Queen has never been delighted with anything,” Fred harrumphs, as he turns down the royal request, which is actually more of an order.
The reason for his contrary mood unfolds, along with a sweep of imag- es both comic and surreal (cinematographer Luca Bigazzi excels) and visitations from very strange people, including a naked Miss Universe, a flamboyant pop star, a levitating monk and a certain notorious figure from the Second World War.
The cast includes Keitel as a filmmaker and 60-year friend of Fred’s, Fonda as a vengeful Hollywood star, Dano as a Hollywood superstar escaping his fame (think Johnny Depp) and Weisz as Fred’s emotionally fraught daughter.
The title Youth seems almost to mock the laments about aging often heard in the film (“I’ve grown old without understanding how I got
Youth here,” Fred sighs), but it’s the great beauty of this work that it also taps into the yearnings and regrets of youth, demonstrating how life is a circle, not a straight line.
The poster (and trailer) for Youth shows Caine and Keitel staring with wonder at a naked Miss Universe (Madalina Ghenea) as she strolls without modesty into their section of the spa swimming pool.
“We’re just looking at what we’ve lost and what we’re never going to get again,” Caine explained. “It’s very sad. The poster makes me cry.”
Youth delighted Caine sufficiently to make his first appearance at Cannes in nearly 50 years — he was last here for Alfie in 1966, which won a Special Jury Prize — and it also inspired philosophical life thoughts from his co-stars.
“You remain young and vital in your mind and your spirit, when you have passion in your life,” said Fonda, 77.
Keitel, 76, offered perhaps the best one-line description of not only Youth but also The Great Beauty, calling them “in-depth adventures into what makes us exist.”
Caine joked that he’s long past any annoyance at being cast as an old man — “The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people!” — and he’s also not ashamed of displaying his naked older body on the screen.
He figures it’s good to remind young people that they, too, will get old one day.
“This is what happens to you,” he said, with a wicked grin.
“So don’t get too smart about it!” @peterhowellfilm