Story hits close to home
Youth
(out of 4) Starring Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Jane Fonda, Rachel Weisz and Paul Dano. Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Opens Friday at Varsity theatres. 123 minutes. 14A
“Emotions can be overrated,” Michael Caine mutters in Youth, Paolo Sorrentino’s followup to his Oscarwinning The Great Beauty.
Caine’s acidic observation may be true, but as we see here, emotions can also bypass logic and go straight for the heart.
Set in a Swiss spa for people seeking luxury downtime, Sorrentino’s bittersweet meditation on aging offers amusing geezer bonding between Caine and Harvey Keitel, plus the kind of cinematography that demands attention.
There’s real humanity here, and it may hit closer to home than you’d expect.
Caine is Fred Ballinger, a retired composer and conductor who seeks peace and quiet in this coddling enclave in the foothills of the Alps. Queen Elizabeth II, however, has other ideas.
An emissary for Her Majesty informs Fred that she’d be delighted for him to come out of retirement to conduct a special performance of his Simple Songs, a suite of tunes the man has grown to abhor.
“Her Majesty the Queen has never been delighted with anything,” Fred harrumphs, as he declines the royal request, actually more of an order.
His contrary mood is explained in due course, along with a sweep of images comic and surreal (cinematographer Luca Bigazzi excels). Very strange people pay visits: a naked Miss Universe, a flamboyant pop star, a levitating monk and a notorious figure from the Second World War.
The cast includes Keitel as a filmmaker and 60-year friend of Fred’s, Jane Fonda as a vengeful Hollywood star, Paul Dano as a Hollywood superstar escaping his fame (think Johnny Depp) and Rachel Weisz as Fred’s emotionally fraught daughter.
The film’s title Youth seems to mock the laments about aging often heard in it: “I’ve grown old without understanding how I got here,” Fred sighs.
But it’s the great beauty of this work that it also taps into the yearnings and regrets of younger people. Life is a circle, not a straight line.
See Youth once to laugh and smile; see it again to stop and think.