Youth Without Youth

YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH is for this viewer one of the most creative and genuinely intelligent and beautiful films to be released in some time. Francis Ford Coppola has utilized the finest points of his gifts as a movie creator and the result is a mesmerizing, quasi-hallucinatory exploration of the fine book by the Romanian writer Mircea Eliade. Not only is Coppola's screenplay challenging and complex, it is also a well-developed guide to making visual the concept of Eliade's at times perplexing story. The cinematography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. is moody and captures the surrealism of the tale, and the musical score is by the great contemporary composer Osvaldo Golijov who has taken every element of Romania mysticism and culture and translated them into a miraculous musical brocade.

Dominic Matei (Tim Roth in a brilliant performance) is a 70-year-old professor whose sheltered life has been spent in his thwarted exploration of the origin of language. The old man is struck by lightning and survives under the care of puzzled physicians and as he shows signs of life, Professor Stanciulescu (Bruno Ganz) is at his side, helping Matei to learn to communicate and eventually accompany him through his complete recovery. Matei grows young in appearance and is able to time travel through the decimation WW II brought to his native Bucharest, altering his identity as he is given a second chance at a life he never experienced, a life that includes a love affair with a woman who closely resembles his early love Laura and now falls in love with him as Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara). In a Dorian Gray mode Matei lives for years as an ageless man, able to communicate with his 'double' who is visible only to Matei. His condition intrigues the interest and suspicions of both the Nazis and journalists and academic colleagues until certain tidal events change Matei's course and he regresses into old age, retuning to the moment of time when he was first struck by lightening. It is a story of the quest of eternal youth and the Faustian consequences that accompany that journey.

The tone of the film is operatic and with the majority of the cast drawn from some of Romania's finest actors, the quality of performances is uniformly outstanding. Tim Roth is remarkably superb in this challenging role, a performance that deserves acclaim from a very wide audience. YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH is Coppola at his finest. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, May 08

Finally a relief to the drivel the studios push out. Youth Without Youth stimulates one's intellect in a philosophical way. You have to give it a chance so a few viewings without the distractions is recommended. Select subtitles for better absorption of what is being said. It is rather deep and calls for an open mind. If you can be gripped by the story that is driven by early languages, a story that explores Eastern philosophy, the various dimensions of ones consciousness, then you'll like this movie.

It is a personal film for Coppola, not one he did to make money to fund other films he wanted to make. Coppola captures the time periods well with costumes and visual cues. He's a director that believes you, as a member of the audience, are intelligent and use your instincts to interpret the specific symbols he gives you. Saying it is over your head means you just perceive the story in your own way. There is no right or wrong on your interpretation of meanings. It can mean what you feel it means. Pay attention to detail, to the words, examine the camera angles. Embrace the challenge of the film. This is one of those movies that you can never assume you will know what will happen next.

Coppola says the book by Mircea Eliade doesn't describe visually the character, but believes his interpretation of the story's ending is what the author meant for it to be. He wrote, produced, and directed this one for $17 million. Tim Roth and Alexandra Maria Lara worked in Romania often in extremely cold temperatures. Several dozen hours of make-up prosthetics applications for Roth as well as rehearsing with several languages and a new language created by author Eliade.

****1/2 2007. Based on Mircea Eliade's Youth Without Youth, this film was written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Struck by a lightning, a 70 years old Romanian teacher survives and is rewarded by the ability to live a second life that will allow him to assimilate the whole human Knowledge. This is a haunting movie dealing with important themes such as time, love, oldness or Man's origin, it kept me awake late last night long after its ending. I wouldn't qualify this film as arty because its form and its story aren't incomprehensible for the lambda viewer. The themes handled by the director are intellectually demanding but their exposition is very simple; that's the mark of a great director. Highly recommended.

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