Youth Without Youth

by Scott Gleine

Time.  Consciousness. Memory.  These are the things that Francis Ford Coppola seemed most interested in while providing an introduction for his new film Youth Without Youth before its Los Angeles premiere at the Writers Guild of America Theater last night.  The film is not a return to the types of films that the director used to make but rather, as he explained, a return to the kinds of projects he wanted to do while he was younger – art films inspired by the great ambiguous European filmmakers such as Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni, and Resnais.  In that regard, Mr. Coppola has succeeded to some extent.  In terms of creating a consistently engaging and entertaining film, he has failed. 

Youth Without Youth follows the long (literally) life of Dominic Mate (Tim Roth), a 70 year old professor nearing the end of his life and lamenting the loss of his love Laura, and the fact that he will probably never be able to finish his life's work.  One day while crossing the street, he is struck by lightning.  After recovering in a hospital, the bandages are removed to reveal that he is now around 40 years old again and has more or less become the most intelligent man alive.  This allows him to continue his life's work (which concerns the origins of human language – and yes, it is as boring as it sounds), but also makes him a target of the Nazis and the CIA.  This goes on for a while until the story abruptly shifts during a chance encounter with a woman named Veronica (lovely Romanian newcomer Alexandra Maria Lara) who either is or looks exactly like (the film never really clarifies this) his deceased wife Laura.  Veronica gets into a car accident and then begins periodically channeling an ancient Indian spirit named Rupini and speaking in ancient tongues dating all the way back to the beginning of language, thus allowing Dominic to come closer to finishing his work.  Oh, and she falls in love with Dominic, of course.

The film can be quite frustrating, since it is basically divided into two halves.  At first, the film is odd and experimental, but is at least interesting.  As Dominic is first discovering what he is capable of, Coppola deals with some philosophical issues concerning memory and states of consciousness.  There are a few solid sequences in which Dominic converses with a "double" (and maybe even a triple?) personality.  Long story short, he is having problems separating his dreams from reality.  This comes up at times throughout the rest of the film, and it might even be possible that everything happening to Dominic could not really be happening (yeah, like one of those films).  However, this isn't really focused on nearly enough in the film.  Instead we are treated to the far less compelling second half, dealing with Dominic's personal and professional relationship with Veronica.  Towards the end, Youth Without Youth picks up steam again and concludes with a bittersweet ending that, if I understood it properly, is actually quite poignant and well done.

There are other aspects of the film worth praising.  The stylized cinematography is sumptuous, and impressive considering the picture was shot in high def and not 35mm (which I assume is a first for Coppola).  Tim Roth gives a convincing, restrained performance and Alexandra Maria Lara appears to be a talented actress worth looking out for in the future.  She does the best with the material she is given.  Both actors actually had to work very hard to learn several different complex languages for their parts, and they pull it off, even if certain parts are completely confusing to the audience.

Unfortunately, Francis Ford Coppola is not "back" and Youth Without Youth isn't a "return to form for a great master" like many probably wish it was.  I still find myself feeling that I respect him for taking a chance and making what is without a doubt an art film.  Maybe it's one of those films that is too complex and ambiguous to be appreciated after one viewing and will be hailed as a masterpiece 20 years from now.  As Coppola's film points out, everything changes over time.  And even if his own talent has taken a change for the worse in the past few decades, it still felt pretty damn cool to walk within two inches of Francis Ford Coppola on my way to the restroom after the film was over.