Youth Without Youth (2007)

"...the work of a master. A curious blend of romance, mystery and philosophical speculation.  A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"...visual panache, daring technique, terrific performances from a cast that mixes established actors with relative unknowns -- are all on offer here.  Box Office Magazine
"...Coppola's first movie in a decade. The gorgeous, time-travelling Youth Without Youth is worth the wait.  Karen Durbin, Elle Magazine
"Boldly romantic and seductively cinematic.  Richard Corliss, Time Magazine
"...a complex story dealing with the flows of time and inner consciousness.  Uncut

Editor's Note Francis Ford Coppola returns to the director's chair for the first time in nearly a decade with his ambitious parable YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH. Set in Romania on the eve of World War II, the tale begins when 70-year-old linguistics professor Dominic Matei (Tim Roth) is struck by lightning, miraculously restoring him to the flower of youth. Swaddled in bandages, blind, and mute, Dominic astounds his doctor (Bruno Ganz) with his swift recovery--new teeth, smooth skin, and a shining mane of hair--and even the young nurses start to take an interest in the dashing, vigorous septuagenarian. But things turn perilous when the Third Reich learns of Dominic's rejuvenation and wants to harness his new, superhuman abilities. On the run in wartorn Europe, Dominic uses his powers to keep one step ahead of the Nazis and finish his life's work, an expansive study on language and human consciousness. The unpredictable plot thickens when Dominic falls for Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara), a beautiful young woman who reminds him of a lost love and, what's more, has also had a fateful encounter with lightning--leaving her possessed by the spirits of her past lives! As she journeys from Switzerland to Malta to India, Veronica's unusual predicament may hold the key to completing Dominic's encyclopedic masterwork, but perhaps at the cost of their new life together. Closer to baroque and risk-taking pictures like ONE FROM THE HEART than THE GODFATHER, Coppola's sprawling exploration of love, memory, and lost time brims with rich symbolism and inventive visuals. Based on the novella by Mircea Eliade, the philosophic film evokes the poetic enigmas and freewheeling narrative of a literary novel. As audacious as it is thought-provoking, YOUNG WITHOUT YOUTH is a compelling return from a cinematic master.

	Alexandra Maria Lara
	Andre Hennicke
	Bruno Ganz
	Tim Roth
	Calin Papura - Production Designer
	Francis Ford Coppola - Director
	Francis Ford Coppola - Screenplay
	Francis Ford Coppola - Producer
	Fred Roos - Executive Producer
	Mihai Malaimare, Jr. - Cinematographer
	Mircea Eliade - Based On Novella By
	Mircea Onisoru - Art Director
	Osvaldo Golijov - Original Music By
	Ruxandra Ionica - Art Director
	Walter Murch - Editor

Box Office
"[V]isual panache, daring technique, terrific performances from a cast that mixes established actors with relative unknowns -- are all on offer here." 12/01/2007 58

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "Sticking to stately, classic compositions, gorgeously lit sets and an unhurried pace, Coppola's style is deliberately old-fashioned, which adds the film's barmy charm." 01/01/2008 p.58

New York Times
"Mr. Coppola has created some strikingly beautiful images in YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH -- his framing remains impeccable, as does his sense of color, proportion and pictorial harmony..." 12/14/2007

Uncut
3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's a complex story dealing with the flows of time and inner consciousness." 01/01/2008 p.127

Los Angeles Times
"Ambitious in scope...the movie tackles time, consciousness, reality, the mystery of human potential, the origins of language...all the big enigmas." 12/14/2007

Sight and Sound
"Technically it is well designed, lit and edited..." 02/01/2008 p.90

Sight and Sound
"The film's gorgeously polished looks and Osvaldo Golijov's evocative Mahlerian soundtrack feed one's eyes and ears sumptuously." 07/01/2008 p.87

Reel.com 6 of 10
I try to be tolerant when people insist on telling me about their dreams. You know what I'm talking about: a well-meaning friend, in the throes of self-discovery, tries to explain this revelatory dream he had the night before where he was back in grade school, but it was really his parents' living room, and his teacher wasn't actually his teacher at all, but rather his ex-girlfriend from five years ago. When faced with this situation, I try not to change the subject too abruptly. After all, the dream-sharer is a friend. I ought to humor his compulsion to find meaning in nonsense...I had a similar feeling while watching Francis Ford Coppola's newest movie, Youth Without Youth. Since he started making films in the late '60s, Coppola has given moviegoers more intense pleasures than perhaps any other American director. Films such as The Conversation, The Godfather, The Godfather II, and Apocalypse Now all stand as epic achievements of modern cinema. His more recent films--like Jack and The Rainmaker--are in no way recognizable as the work of a genius, but his past greatness inclines me to cut him some slack when he's struggling to say something. And Coppola is definitely struggling to say something in Youth Without Youth. It's a shame, then, that what he manages to get out is so incoherent and banal, so much like a clueless friend's stupid dream. - Matt Mckillop

Chicago Sun-Times 5 of 10
"Youth Without Youth" proves that Francis Ford Coppola can still make a movie, but not that he still knows how to choose his projects. The film is a sharp disappointment to those who have been waiting for 10 years since the master's last film. The best that can be hoped is that, having made a film, Coppola has the taste again, and will go on to make many more, nothing like this...Coppola found this story in a novella by the Romanian-born Mircea Eliade, for many years a scholar of religious history at the University of Chicago. It is possible to see how the movie might have been simplified and clarified into an entertainment along the lines of "Time After Time," but Coppola seems to positively embrace the obscurity and impenetrability of the material...There is such a thing as a complex film that rewards additional viewing and study, but "Youth Without Youth," I am afraid, is no more than it seems: a confusing slog through metaphysical murkiness. That it is so handsomely photographed and mounted, and acted with conviction, only underlines the narrative confusion...We know from interviews that the story means a great deal to Coppola, now at the same age as his protagonist. But his job is to make it mean a great deal to us. He is a great filmmaker, and I am sure this film is only a deep, shuddering breath before he makes another masterpiece. - Roger Ebert