‘Youth Without Youth‘ was a complete surprise to me. It is probably the least understood film of Francis Ford Coppola. Made in 2007 and filmed largely in Romania, it faithfully screens a late novella by Mircea Eliade, written in 1976. After decades of academic activity and having written some of the most important books in the field of religious history, Eliade resumed then the thread of his fantastic prose writings with a story that seems a natural continuation of his activity as a writer from the 1930s. Coppola seems to have done something similar. After ten years of silence as a director, he made this film, which is more like an independent art film. Of course, neither Eliade in the 1970s nor Coppola in 2007 had anything to prove to anyone. The novel ‘Youth Without Youth’ and the film that brought it to screen are atypical maturity creations for both artists. The story is as different from the books of philosophy or history of religions written by Eliade, as the film is completely different from Coppola’s ‘Conversation‘, ‘Godfather‘ or ‘Apocalypse Now‘.
I’m trying to understand the negative reaction of most critics who have seen and have written about this film. Viewers seem to be divided in opinions, but not too many people have come to see the film because of the negative press and its distribution. The story begins in Romania immediately before the Second World War, continues in neutral Switzerland during the war, to reach the shores of the Mediterranean and the plateaus of northern India in the coming decades. The ideas of returning to the age of youth or crossing the borders into and from worlds in which time is frozen or flows in directions and at paces different from those of human lives are far from being new in cinema, from Murnau‘s’ ‘Faust‘ ‘made in 1926 to’ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button‘ that was released one year after ‘Youth Without Youth‘ Coppola’s approach is unique in that he has read, understood, and wanted to bring to screen Eliade’s philosophy and the atmosphere of his fantastic writings. The film can of course also be viewed as an action movie, with elements of mystery and espionage, or as a romantic story in a fantastic context. Viewed from these perspectives the film is reasonable or even good, but not at the level of a director of Coppola’s fame. The disappointment of these spectators is the outcome of the combination between the misunderstanding of Eliade’s world and the different expectations from a film signed by Coppola.
Dominic Matei, the hero of the film, goes through events and experiences typical of the heroes of Mircea Eliade‘s fantastic prose. Tim Roth‘s acting succeeded in my opinion to portray the dilemmas of the intellectual who, to a certain extent, manages to use his scientific training to understand what is happening to him, to later accept that his fate is subject to other laws and it is part of a system of phenomena for which another way of understanding the world is needed. The lovers’ dilemmas and the unusual love story are well brought to the screen with the help of Roth’s partner in the film, Alexandra Maria Lara. The fascination of the East, its philosophy and landscapes, is also present. Languages (modern and ancient) also play an important role. The Romanian atmosphere is surprisingly well described on the screen. A team of valuable Romanian actors did not miss the opportunity to support the film and play under Coppola’s direction. Among other, this film occasions the last screen appearance, the last scene in the career of Adrian Pintea, who died shortly after the filming ended.
It is a well written and beautifully filmed movie. Coppola’s surprise by making a rather introverted film, faithful to the writing and thinking of a writer little-known outside Romania, found many of his fans unprepared. The American director decided not to make their lives easy and refused to translate what he read and felt in Eliade into metaphors or stereotypes familiar to American commercial cinema. He took the risk that the film would please a small part of the audience and puzzle many others. I belong to the first, happy, category.