In 2013, the Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino charmed the pants off the world (and copped the foreign-language film Oscar) with his eye-candy opus “The Great Beauty.”
The success of that movie gave Sorrentino a shot at an English-language feature. The new one is a very similar film — full of fortune-cookie wisdom, a strong sense of melancholy, and a fair share of Euro-nudity.
“Youth” is set mostly at a health resort in Switzerland. Here, a celebrated composer named Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine) is taking his annual break — still mourning the loss of his wife, still determined to stay retired from music.
In the amusing opening scene, Ballinger politely but forcefully declines a knighthood offered by an emissary (Alex Macqueen) from the Queen. He’s over it, and can’t be bothered with any new projects — or, it seems, with any kind of hope for the future.
Also at this exclusive spa are Fred’s daughter (Rachel Weisz), who suffers her own trauma while there; a film director (Harvey Keitel) who shares Fred’s late-life sadness; and a serious young actor (Paul Dano, late of “Love &Mercy”) with sympathy for his elders.
Sorrentino is only 45, but as in “The Great Beauty,” he displays a strong interest in what it means to grow old. Much of “Youth” is Fred walking around the hills of Switzerland, pondering his past and — by the looks of it — ready to check out of his dull existence.
Shy of plot, “Youth” spends its time on observations and curious characters. If you saw “The Great Beauty,” it will come as no surprise that “Youth” is full of gorgeous surfaces and people.
Sorrentino is at least as much a designer as director. Seriously, the eyeglasses in this movie are incredibly cool.
I liked Caine’s quiet performance, and he looks great — long white hair, elegant posture. Remember when he was in the “Jaws 4” phase of his career, taking jobs willy-nilly and damaging his reputation? Yeah, that’s all over with.
Keitel struggles with his character, but that’s partly the writing; the subplot involving the film director is the weakest part of the movie. Jane Fonda, by the way, turns up late as an actress considering a part in Keitel’s new project.
This is an uneven movie, but it does offer pleasure: all those handsome surfaces and green hills. If our culture fetishizes youth, this movie at least comes down on the side of experience and age, even as it chronicles the pains of growing old.
“Youth” (2½ stars)
Michael Caine is a disenchanted composer spending his annual retreat at a Swiss spa. This new film from “Great Beauty” director Paolo Sorrentino is full of handsome surfaces and fortune-cookie wisdom, but it is a pleasure to watch, and Caine is in great form. With Rachel Weisz, Harvey Keitel.
Rating: R, for nudity, subject matter
Showing: Guild 45th
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