Review: Youth Without Youth (2007) ***
Tim Roth and Alexandra Maria Lara in Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth
As Tim Roth is unchained from the constraints of aging in Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, so too is Coppola himself gleefully freed from the demands of box office and critical reception with his new film. The result is a beautiful and contemplative, yet ultimately puzzling and elusive meditation on, among other things, the question of whether the temporal limits of a human lifetime are enough to allow the full flowering of the human spirit.
Based upon the novella by Mircea Eliade, the film begins in Romania on the eve of World War II with 70-year-old linguist Dominic Matei (Roth) confronting the probability that he won’t ever finish his life’s work. Even if he does, he won’t be able to share it with the lost love of his life and it will be meaningless. Contemplating suicide, Matei is struck by lightning during a freak storm. He’s badly burned, but his body regenerates and he heals a younger man of 35 with a split personality and supernatural ability to absorb knowledge. Chased by the Nazis, he waits out World War II in Switzerland where he resumes his quest to reach back to the beginnings of the history of human communication.
At its heart, Youth Without Youth is an old man’s fantasy about what we could accomplish if we were given the chance to relive our youth with the knowledge we’ve gained as adults. It’s a simple enough idea, but it’s wrapped up in something of an inscrutable philosophical/psychological muddle that will probably frustrate most viewers. It can be difficult to follow and even more difficult to decipher.
It would’ve helped if Dominic Matei were a more interesting lead character. He’s not very involving, but I don’t know whether to blame Tim Roth or Coppola. Most of the supporting characters are flat as well. Even the reliable Bruno Ganz feels a little out of place. I enjoy the intellectual puzzle, but there was an emotional weight that seems missing that would’ve made for a more engaging drama.
The most interesting performance was from beautiful Romanian born Alexandra Maria Lara. She plays Veronica, a woman Dominic meets who looks like his lost love (also played in flashback by Lara). I won’t say too much about her character, but suffice it to say she’s central to the point in the film where many viewers will become convinced that Youth Without Youth has completely flown off the rails. Her character is kind of an enigma, but she’s also sympathetic and well played by Lara who injects some of the feeling the film had been lacking.
If it feels like I’m talking circles around this movie, I probably am. It’s a tough one to review or even synopsize. A quick glance at Rotten Tomatoes shows that this film is getting killed by the critics. That’s too bad because I think Coppola is really flexing his creativity here and he deserves much more of the benefit of a doubt than he’s being given. Still, I can’t deny it’s a bit of a jumble and not easy to swallow.
Anyone looking for a conventional entertainment should steer well clear of Youth Without Youth, but anyone with a little patience who wants a bit of the exhilaration given off by an artist reaching out for his own fountain of youth ought to have a look. Something of a cinematic Möbius strip, it confounds without ever completely satisfying, yet it also never bores if you can hang with it. Unlike many of the more audience friendly panderings that stink up the multiplex each weekend, you might even find Youth Without Youth sticks with you.
Youth Without Youth. France/USA 2007. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Based upon the novella by Mircea Eliade. Cinematography by Mihai Malaimare, Jr. Music score composed by Osvaldo Golijov. Edited by Walter Murch. Starring Tim Roth, Bruno Ganz and Alexandra Maria Lara. 2 hours 5 minutes. MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality, nudity and a brief disturbing image. 3 stars (out of 5)
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I only read that opening paragraph and I’ll skip the rest til later, but I’m there with bells on for this one. First of all, it’s got Tim Roth. Second, it’s going to make me work for it. Good enough for me.
Just don’t be annoyed with me if you hate it. All I ask.
Fine review Craig. The eloquence and precision of the last sentence in your opening paragraph was particularly striking. What I really like about your and other reviews of the film is the warmth and respect expressed towards Coppola. Like you, I value filmmakers who reach for the personal and profound with genuine ambition and some experimentation. Nevermind that the result may be sometimes imperfect or elusive.
No matter what, how can anyone not have warmth and respect towards Coppola. He’s earned it.
Another must-see film for me.
That was kind of my feeling going in. It’s far from perfect, but I like that he’s pushing himself and trying to make art rather than just collecting a paycheck.
Take a look at Rotten Tomatoes though. It’s a disaster.
Oh my God. Well Roeper liked it, and he generally has decent taste. At least he liked No Country for Old Men, Diving Bell and I’m Not There.
And he liked The Lookout and Once. That makes him okay in my book.
Roeper is more reliable when he likes something than when he doesn’t.
I think Ebert is a lot of the time, too.
Sounds like two thumbs down for them both :-)
Nah, I like Ebert. He’s a phenomenal writer and I always liked that he championed smaller films that wouldn’t have received notice.
That’s one thumb up!
great review, and I agree. It’s an ambitious film, to say the least. Unconventional, full of ideas and layered with themes, visually spectacular. I liked it very much, actually.
Thanks Ari, I liked that quote you pulled out of the Vanity Fair article: “Coppola has made a defiantly old-fashioned movie in the sense that it would probably have found a larger audience if it had come out alongside Blow-Up in 1966, when serious people would have argued about its meaning.”
I also liked how you brought in Inland Empire. I was thinking the same thing. Not quite as hallucinatory as Lynch’s movie, but rewarding all the same.
Yeah, Inland and Youth are both these really intriguing experiments by master filmmakers. It’s great to see. I love it.
Your review makes me think the movie is… exactly as I thought it would be, a disaster with redeeming parts or an ambitious almost-great film, in any case something that has shades and reflections of greatness but isn’t -as much as we might want it to be - great itself.
It sounds like a film that needs champions, and since it seems to have found a reluctant one in you, I think I’ll go see it :-)
I thought about what you said before and, yes this movie is pretty much exactly as you expected it would be…but I’m glad you’re considering giving it a shot anyway.
Sometimes it’s good to shake things up and go for something outside of our usual comfort zone.