Youth Without Youth (2007)

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

Mircea Eliade (novel)
Francis Ford Coppola (written by)

Release Date:

26 October 2007 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

A love story wrapped in a mystery. Set in Europe before WWII, a timid professor is changed by a cataclysmic event and explores the mysteries of life.

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Lightning | Language | Struck By Lightning | Nazi

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tim Roth	...	Dominic
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Veronica / Laura
Bruno Ganz	...	Professor Stanciulescu
André Hennicke	...	Josef Rudolf
Marcel Iures	...	Prof. Giuseppe Tucci
Adrian Pintea	...	Pandit
Alexandra Pirici	...	Woman in Room 6
Florin Piersic Jr.	...	Dr. Gavrila
Zoltan Butuc	...	Dr. Chirila
Adriana Titieni	...	Anetta
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mircea Albulescu	...	Davidoglu
Dan Astileanu	...	Professor (as Dan Astilean)
Cristian Balint	...	Grenzschutz
Dragos Bucur	...	Bartender
Theodor Danetti	...	Dr. Neculache
Andrei Gheorghe	...	Taxi Driver
Roxana Guttman	...	Gertrude
Dorina Lazar	...	Cook
Rodica Lazar	...	Teller
Anamaria Marinca	...	Hotel Receptionist
Hodorog Anton Mihail	...	Doru, The Guard
Mihai Niculescu	...	Vaian
Gelu Nitu	...	Policeman
Mirela Oprisor	...	Craita
Alexandru Repan	...	Dr. Chavannes
Dan Sandulescu	...	Nicodim
Andi Vasluianu	...	Intern

Also Known As:

Jugend ohne Jugend (Germany)
L'homme sans âge (France)
Un'altra giovinezza (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality, nudity and a brief disturbing image.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA | Germany | Italy | France | Romania

Language:

English | Sanskrit | German | French | Italian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Ireland:15A | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging, Bucharest, Romania

Company:

American Zoetrope

Trivia:

Co-editor Walter Murch started working immediately after completing his previous movie, Jarhead (2005). He had to spend 6 weeks watching all the 170 hours of footage shot and watching the first assembly put up by Corina Stavila.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Coda: Thirty Years After (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Middle Village

Romance without Love: Coppola's Obsessive Fixations

I've seen movies that purport to reveal great truths. Those movies fall flat because the revelations they make are not very revealing. This movie doesn't reveal truths of that sort but nonetheless shows the mindset and tribulations of people who (at least claim to) know great things.

There are HINTS of paranoia, loves lost, sacrifices made; strange paradoxes (body doubles, visual incongruities, time warps); and great "evils" (Hitler, mad scientists, Nuclear bombs). But none of these are resolved to my satisfaction.

So, the movie leaves one with this "final" thought: Though there are suggestions that somehow love (or some other sort of gender confusion / identity crisis) might resolve "everything"; nonetheless, life is morbid. We psychotically BELIEVE in love, genius, greatness, and eternal youth as we EXPERIENCE bloody-red roses, Hitler, hallucinations, and death.

Romantic? Maybe not. But a lesson in really GOOD movie making.