Usually in movies, Romania is the land of Count Dracula. "Youth Without Youth" takes a new approach to Romania, even though it stars in a supporting role Bruno Ganz (who played Jonathan Harker in Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu") and is directed by Francis Ford Coppola (who directed "Bram Stoker's Dracula").
At the beginning, we meet Dominic Matei (Tim Roth), a septuagenarian Romanian polyglot in 1938. Suddenly, a flash of lightning hits Dominic. As the movie progresses, he gets younger and younger. The Nazi takeover of his native country prompts him to flee. But when he finds love in young Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara), his unusual trait has an unexpected result, forcing Dominic to decide what he'll now have to do.
At the very least, this is a Dorian Gray-style movie, as Dominic stays much younger than he should be. But what I personally found really impressive was the range of languages spoken throughout the film, including Sanskrit. Apparently, "YWY" author Mircea Eliade as a young man went to Calcutta to study Sanskrit and and Eastern philosophy, so it wouldn't surprise me if the events in the story mirror his own experiences.
From what I read about this film, it sounds as though this was an ambitious project in the vein of some of Coppola's more famous work. Not only did filming start more than two years before the release*, but they shot over 170 hours of footage over a period of 85 days; that's an average of more than 2 hours of footage per day! But it came out very good, I must say. This is certainly a movie for which I have to commend everyone involved in the production. Definitely one that I recommend. And among other things, I hope that more movies will portray Romania as something other than the land of Count Dracula (and possibly Nicolae Ceaucescu).
*Similarly, Coppola started filming "Apocalypse Now" over three years before its release.
At the beginning, we meet Dominic Matei (Tim Roth), a septuagenarian Romanian polyglot in 1938. Suddenly, a flash of lightning hits Dominic. As the movie progresses, he gets younger and younger. The Nazi takeover of his native country prompts him to flee. But when he finds love in young Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara), his unusual trait has an unexpected result, forcing Dominic to decide what he'll now have to do.
At the very least, this is a Dorian Gray-style movie, as Dominic stays much younger than he should be. But what I personally found really impressive was the range of languages spoken throughout the film, including Sanskrit. Apparently, "YWY" author Mircea Eliade as a young man went to Calcutta to study Sanskrit and and Eastern philosophy, so it wouldn't surprise me if the events in the story mirror his own experiences.
From what I read about this film, it sounds as though this was an ambitious project in the vein of some of Coppola's more famous work. Not only did filming start more than two years before the release*, but they shot over 170 hours of footage over a period of 85 days; that's an average of more than 2 hours of footage per day! But it came out very good, I must say. This is certainly a movie for which I have to commend everyone involved in the production. Definitely one that I recommend. And among other things, I hope that more movies will portray Romania as something other than the land of Count Dracula (and possibly Nicolae Ceaucescu).
*Similarly, Coppola started filming "Apocalypse Now" over three years before its release.