A beautiful study of ageing and loss.

Rating: 8/10 (23 August 2016)

A beautiful study of ageing and loss, featuring a wonderful central performance from Michael Caine. Playing Fred Ballinger, a veteran composer and conductor on holiday in the Swiss Alps, Caine impresses as a man for whom his music was seemingly everything yet he now languishes in a peripheral life, unwilling to conduct his most famous work one more time.
Ballinger's friendship with Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel on top form) gives the film much of it's heart. Old friends, they have a lifetime of shared memories and their scenes sparkle with wit and humour. More troublesome for Ballinger is his relationship with his daughter, Lena (a fine Rachel Weisz), for she never felt she mattered to her father as much as his music did.
Paolo Sorrentino's film is never less than visually stunning. Gorgeous landscapes and beautifully constructed scenes showcase the characters fragility. The film is beautifully paced, like a gentle octogenarian afternoon. Lovely support from Paul Dano and Jane Fonda as two American film stars, he quietly intellectual, and her brash and monstrous. It's the performances that really make this film tick but add the landscapes and the wonderful music (David Lang), and you have something very charming indeed.
Slow. Ponderous, even. But charming and played to perfection. Highly recommended.