Coppola stretches boundaries with daring 'Youth'
Francis Ford Coppola's "Youth Without Youth" is a bizarre and bewildering show from a great director who never ceases to surprise us and also to disappoint us, perhaps because we expect so much from him after "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now."
His latest is an art film without alibis. Based on an obscure novella by Romanian writer Mircea Eliade, "Youth Without Youth" is about a scholar of linguistics named Dominic Matei (Tim Roth), a sad, lonely old man nearing the end of his life. Like Faust, he becomes suddenly young again, experiencing the joys of passion, adventure, achievement and success, but eventually (also like Faust) paying a heavy price for his good fortune.
We see Dominic at 70 in 1938 Romania, in a world on the brink of war. On the brink of suicide, he wanders in the snow in his pajamas, then gets struck down by lightning.
In a hospital attended by the kindly Professor Stanciulescu (Bruno Ganz, the angel of "Wings of Desire" and Hitler in "The Downfall"), Dominic makes a remarkable recovery, not only regaining his health, but growing new teeth, hair and the appearance of a man in his 40s.
Dominic survives World War II, despite being pursued by Nazi fiend Dr. Rudolf (Andre M. Hennicke) and seduced by an unnamed Nazi temptress (Alexandra Pirici) with a swastika on her garter.
After the war, Dominic pursues academic glory by investigating the roots of language, though his obsession with knowledge costs him his great love, Laura (Alexandra Maria Lara). Later, he meets Laura's double, Veronica (also played by Lara), who is also struck by lightning and regresses to previous personalities who lived in ancient India and Egypt.
Then, Dominic is bedeviled by his own double (Roth again) as the story plays out to 1969 and a climax involving time, fate and three magical roses.
Roth plays great villains and oddballs, but he's not the actor you'd immediately pick for a heavily romantic role such as this one. Yet Roth makes Dominic glow as a suffering, striving soul who suggests Faust filtered through Kafka.
The stunningly beautiful Lara, who appeared with Ganz in "Downfall" and in a 2002 TV version of "Doctor Zhivago," makes an equally radiant presence. The film, like Lara, is astonishingly good-looking and technically sharp.
This is Coppola's first feature film since his 1997 John Grisham adaptation "The Rainmaker" and it's good to see him back stretching the boundaries of cinema. Here, he has an epic, almost Shakespearean sensibility, but he's also daringly experimental.
When Coppola depresses you, it's mostly because he's trapped in something commercial and slight, like the misbegotten Robin Williams vehicle "Jack" (whose aging-and-youth themes foreshadow those of this movie).
"Youth Without Youth" is a thoroughly bizarre, oddly classical film (one of Coppola's visual models was Japanese art titan Yasujiro Ozu) that will delight some, bewilder others, and probably fly below the radar of the great mass of moviegoers.
"Youth Without Youth"
Three stars out of four
Opens today
Starring As
Tim Roth Dominic Matei
Alexandra Maria Lara Veronica/Laura
Bruno Ganz Professor Stanciulescu
Marcel Iures Professor Tucci
Written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola; based on the novel by Mircea Eliade. A Sony Classics release. At the Century Centre in Chicago. Rated R (sexual situations, nudity). Running time: 105 minutes.