Youth

3 hrs. 18 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Paolo Sorrentino

Narrator Natalya Kaznacheeva

Description

At a Swiss resort at the foot of the Alps, surrounded by silence, beauty, and luxury, two elderly friends relax. The Englishman Fred Ballindjer, a famous composer and conductor, holds out against a diplomatic siege by the royal messenger, stubbornly refusing to perform at the concert despite Queen Elizabeth II’s personal request. The American film director Mike Boyle will never be able to finish the production of his last testamentary film, which he’s working on with a team of young colleagues. The friends ponder the past and the future, watch their own children closely, and observe other hotel guests as well. Behind the façade of inert respectability, passions boil; dramas unfold—life doesn’t allow passive involvement, and, despite their respectable age, it pulls contemplators into its cruel and beautiful whirlpool. The novel-as-screenplay “Youth” formed the basis for Paolo Sorrentino’s film of the same name, first shown at the 2015 Cannes Festival. The leading roles were brilliantly played by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel.