Paolo Sorrentino just hit it out of the park here at Cannes, delivering what has to be the most compelling screening of everything I’ve seen here thus far with the possible exception of Carol. When it finally came to an end, the audience sat in stunned silence until at last the screen went totally dark. After that, an even number of “bravos!” and “boos” filled the house as audience members slowly left the theater. Why did the film divide the house so sharply? Probably because the film is both daring and traditional, realistic and absurd.
Youth is a melancholy look at aging and love. It tells its story with epic sweep, even though it takes place in a singular location — a spa in the hills of Switzerland. The canvas is the internal world of the actors who move through emotional ups and downs while the camera catches them at their best and worst moments. A tall, leggy, busty woman fills the frame as she struts down a slope towards the horizon. Images like that are juxtaposed with an old woman sitting in a spa, or an overweight man hitting a tennis ball high in the air with just his foot. Youth exists somewhere between the surreal Italian film school of Federico Fellini and the romantic one of Bertolucci.
Michael Caine plays a composer who is best friends with a legendary film director played by Harvey Keitel. They ruminate on life, love, sex, aging and youth as they move among the various characters who join them at the hotel. In Caine’s case it’s his daughter, Rachel Weisz, and in Keitel’s case its the film writers he has along to help finish his latest movie.
The relationship between Weisz and Caine is so surprising, so moving, both in terms of how deep these actors go with each other and in the things the characters learn about themselves during the film. She has two jobs, she says: being his daughter and being his assistant. All the while she’s heartbroken that her mother is not with them. Caine’s character spends the whole movie obsessed with sounds, inventing his own music by twisting a piece of plastic wrap, or listening to cowbells and birds. Somewhere behind him a young actor played by Paul Dano studies him as he listens.
Somewhere on the hotel grounds a monk meditates. Somewhere else the hotel’s young masseuse is dancing to a video about dancing. Somewhere else a husband and wife are not speaking to each other in the same way every night. These moments are dispassionately observed by Sorrentino, silently commented upon, like eye-witness testimony told in great detail so we are can be allowed draw our own conclusions.
Every shot is a thing of beauty. I spend most of time here in Cannes finding beautiful/ugly/interesting things to photograph. For most of this film I had the impulse to hoist my camera and take a snapshot of it. It is just one dizzying image after another.
Films like this hardly get made anymore. Probably no American director could get a movie like this made, no matter how big the name. American actors certainly don’t get many chances like this to deliver fully realized performances. Birdman’s indictment of Hollywood is nothing compared to what gets said about it in Youth, the good, the bad and the ugly, but mostly the ugly.
Films used to have somewhere in mind to go beyond opening weekend box office numbers or the chase for awards. They had somewhere to go because smart people made them and smart people wanted to see them get made. We can mostly declare the death of this kind of cinema in the American studio system as of 2015. It will be left to filmmakers in other countries where artistic freedom is less restricted.
Both Caine and Keitel give career-best performances. One or the other is headed for the Best Actor race. Jane Fonda has a powerhouse few minutes on screen that could earn her an Oscar nomination as well, but with Fox Searchlight in the driver’s seat expect this film — catnip for Academy voters — to be represented in all of the major categories and perhaps to become a frontrunner to win.
This is a film of big ideas of the human experience, certainly among the most profound. Why are people so afraid of human touch? is one of the questions it examines. Is love meant to last? is another. It’s about show business, creativity, inspiration, but mostly about the eternal conflict between aging and youth. We have such power of attraction when we’re young but we often don’t learn how to properly wield that power till we’re old. The film is emphatic about its realization that we’re alive until we aren’t. It doesn’t matter whether that existence is important or insignificant, this universal truth remains.
also, this:
“expect this film — catnip for Academy voters — to be represented in all of the major categories and perhaps to become a frontrunner to win.”
first: whoa.
second: would you think this a worthy winner?
(whoops, double post, sorry. thought I had been accidentaly blocked for sharing a name with a troll)
first things first:
I’m not the Andre that hated the review.
second:
I AM DYING TO WATCH THIS.
first things first:
I’m not the Andre from above!!!!
(glad I read the comments before posting, otherwise this would have seemed quite schizophrenic)
second:
I WANT TO SEE THIS FILM SO MUCH.
Oh I think it’s very much in the running. Every argument against it that I’ve heard so far is a variant of “The Coens won’t go for this,” which you know could be the case, but as elusive as they are, I wouldn’t count on anyone having any sort of grasp of what those guys might like.
Meanwhile, the most important cinematic announcement of the year:
http://variety.com/2015/film/global/cannes-lucrecia-martel-rolls-on-zama-exclusive-1201501683/
Probably forget the Palme for The Assassin.
What no why. Don’t crush my dreams like this.
I wholeheartedly want to see and experience this film.
I do find it interesting that if it is an early frontrunner/contender—yet another film with a Hollywood connection up for BP.
Michael Caine’s career must be the longest and most consistently compelling of any actor currently working in film. When has he ever given a bad performance, no matter what crap he might have been in?
This movie is ugly. For the first time in my life I wanted to leave the theatre. after one has been covered with shit for two hours it might stop smelling horribly but it is shit nonetheless
Youth sounds great. What a cast! Can’t wait.
And wouldn’t it be fun if the publicity run for this film was Caine and Keitel as themselves discussing art and work, joined by Weisz and Dano. I’d watch every interview.
I have such respect for these actors, I’m glad this film turned out so well.
btw, did Sasha see THE ASSASSIN? “The BARRY LYNDON of martial arts films!” they hail from Cannes; apparently it’s a “difficult Hou”; wouldn’t discount it for the Palme if it gets enough of a ball rolling once it screens more; Still looking like SAUL though, right? But hey, who knows in what The Coens might throw their in…
Excuse me while I go consider how much a nomination for Michael Caine in a Sorrentino movie will count toward what would be *the beginning* of a most welcome rehabilitation of the category’s cred. Quite a few points, I suspect.
Probably forget the Palme for The Assassin.
Sounds like one of those motion pictures you make your way to the theater for!
THE GREAT BEAUTY and IL DIVO are two of the best movies of recent years. Very excited to read Sasha’s take, as well as the other mostly enthusiastic reviews. Sorrentino has an amazing eye. One could watch THE GREAT BEAUTY without subtitles and still be entoxicated (of course, the cynics would say it’s better without the dialogue, but F ’em).
But what about rachel weisz performance?
Maaan . . . .
The embedded version of the trailer here looks already artistically beautiful. Wonderful cinematography, to begin with.
I’m looking forward to this one, as well.
I too suspect that Oscar may get on board with this, and Sasha is smart to bring up Fox Searchlight in that regard. Most likely the Cannes jury will pass this one over, whereas it’ll receive a much more enthusiastic response from American voters come the end of the year. A little like The Great Beauty, then.
Pete: Absolutely. He’s done everything from playing Batman’s butler and co-starring with The Rock to headlining indies like “Harry Brown,” “Is Anybody There?” and “Youth.” Think about it: He’s had name-above-the-title roles over six decades.
Caine has really had a marvelous final phase in his career, no?
So happy to hear that Michael Caine may have one more chance to get the Best Actor prize he has long deserved. Yes, I know — he already has 2 Oscars as Best Supporting Actor. But this sounds like the performance of a lifetime.
Just Cheers and no Boos for Ryan there. Bravo!
I’ll watch this one as soon as I head back to Italy, which is on Sunday. So pumped for my fellow countryman!
Today I was lucky again. I saw “Mountains may depart” and it absolutely broke me inside. What a wonderful, wonderful film. Yeah, I see what Justin Chang meant with his criticism of the third act, and he has a point, but it is such a melancholic yet powerful movie that you can’t but give in to its bittersweet drama. Zhao Tao is astonishing, she made me cry. And that ending… my goodness. I was an emotional wreck.
Andre, what about the review was terrible?
What a terrible review. Couldn’t finish.
What a terrible review. Cou–
What an ignorant comment. Couldn’t finish.
I thought “The Great Beauty” was a great film.
And this trailer for “Youth” is stunning!
I’ll be seeing it as soon as it opens.
I love it when the trailer doesn’t give the film’s plot away, but rather teases you.
An equal number of cheers and boos usually means most of us here will like it 😉
I’m not entirely convinced… I enjoyed The Great Beauty well enough, but it got dangerously close to losing me more than once. From some of the other reviews I’ve been looking at, some of the problems I thought I might’ve had with his previous film are easier to find in this one. I’ll wait and see how it plays out to figure out if I want to see it or not. Everyone agrees that Caine is good, though, which is great to hear.
Not sure if I’d peg this the Palme-winner-to-be just yet – it hasn’t had the uncontested raves of Carol, the sense of fresh talent of Son of Saul, or the rather detailed interest of Mountains May Depart, with which Youth shares its premiere date. Sure, it has that juicy divisiveness, but I feel like even if there’s more goodwill than ill, the naysayers are managing a little more conviction than the ravers. Caine’s in contention for Actor, for sure, and quite possibly Sorrentino for Director (though my theory now is they’ll give that to Nemes), but I think beyond that its best bet is the Grand Prix or Jury Prize.
@Koles: Villeneuve’s film screened yesterday – reviews are leaning towards positive, but it has a lot of critics saying it’s no big deal. I was sort of pulling for him too, but it looks like this won’t be his year…
It’s comforting to know that Sorrentino’s film is strong. It’s certainly one of my hopefuls for the Golden Palm this year. However there is a number of “usual suspects” in competition this year, Sorrentino being one of them, whose movies have allways been in competition, but have never won the big one. Hsiao-hsien, Garrone, Audiard and Sorrentino all stand a good chance to win, but I’m glad to hear the author of one of my favourite movies in the recent years (The Great Beauty) might have made another masterpiece.
I’m also silently rooting for Villeneuve, whose movie still hasn’t been screened as I understand.