Well Done If Pretentious

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2016)

Youth is an interesting if overly artsy character study examining an elderly composer staying at a resort with his friend, an aging director. The composer has to deal with various personal problems as well as a request to perform for the Queen of England.
The film mainly succeeds on the basis of its performances. Caine is excellent as usual as the composer, while Harvey Keitel does well as a director at the end of his tether. However, the stand out of the cast is Rachel Weisz, who plays Caine's daughter, jilted by her husband, the son of Harvey Keitel's character. Weisz captures her character's pain and sense of betrayal and should have earned an Oscar nomination for her role.
Although she has received critical acclaim for her role, Jane Fonda's performance is rather weak. Her character is a one note Hollywood actress on the outs with Keitel, and her appearance is little more than a cameo.
The main problem besetting Youth is its at times weak writing. The film is overly pretentious, relying too much on quirky set pieces and dream sequences rather than on character development. Keitel's character in particular goes in a direction that the script does not set up at all. Luckily, the strong acting makes up for the faults in the writing.