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iiiin’MliconiuM'ts wouoen EMPORIUM (U) 94min ee
voUTH WifH‘OUT YOUTH (15) 124mm 00.
Francis Ford Coppola was arguably the greatest of the New Hollywood directors, before losing his way in the 19905 with Jack and The Rainmaker. A decade on and Coppola has returned to the director‘s chair with an experimental musing on what it means to get old and find yourself running out of time to fully exploit your work.
Coppola is clearly laying down some demons in a personal work that will be infuriating for anyone looking for popcorn entertainment or those fans of Coppola‘s oeuvre that couldn‘t give a toss about his private life. Tim Roth, in a performance echoing his turn in Werner Herzog‘s 2001 Invincible, plays brilliant linguistics professor Dominic Matei, who, on the eve of World War II is struck by lightning and consequently stops ageing. His doctor (Bruno Ganz) is keen to study
him but the Nazis come calling and Dominic escapes to Switzerland. It’s here that the movie becomes plagued by doppelgangers: Dominic dreams up a Faustian double and meets a girl (Alexandra Maria Lara), also recently struck by lighting, who reminds him of his childhood sweetheart.
Coppola‘s experiments with montage in the film are more akin to the work of Godard in the late 705 than of the director’s previous work (the sound design of The Conversation excepted). Yet. the director's decision to jump back and forth between the decades and to use Lara in multiple roles doesn't help when it comes to following the action. What‘s important in the matching of one image against the next is creating an emotional truth, and, while initially engaging, Youth Without Youth doesn‘t have sufficient legs to be anything more than an interesting exercise. (Kaleem Aftab)
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PROFILE
Name Christophe Heriore
Born IO April 1970, Cahaix France
Background Having grown up in Brittany. Honore studied literature and cinema at Rennes univers‘ity. before moving to Paris in his mid 20s. where he contributed to C(ihiers dii Cinema. A novelist. playwright. screenwriter and author of children's books. Honore has already directed several films: these include his sexually transgressiye George Bataille adaptation Ma Mere. for which he cast Isabelle Huppert and Louis Garrel, and the critically acclaimed Dans Pans. a playful hommage to the Nouvelle Vague. which starred Garrel again and Romain Duns. What’s he up to now? Honore's latest film is Les Chansons d'Amour (Love Songs). which played in competition at last May's Cannes festival. and is now gaining its British release. Featuring an exCiting young cast including Garrel, Ludwine Sagnier, Chiara MastrOianni and Clotilde Hesme. it's a naturalistic mUSlcal containing 13 SOngs. which unfolds in Paris's bustling tenth arrondissement and explores how lovers and family members deal With an unexpected bereavement. What he says about the inspiration for Les Chansons d’Amour ‘It was inspired by the death of somebody whom I loved as a friend and whom the composer Alex Beaupain loved as well. When that perSOn passed away. Alex wrote some songs, and I referred to the feelings of grief in my novels. But we came together with the idea of transforming this grief into the JOY of making a mowe.’
What he says about Jacques Demy ‘I love the work of Jacques Demy. to me he is a godfather of French cinema. You can't make a French musical without acknowledging Demy, but I didn't want to make a copy of The Umbrel/as of Cherbourg. In my film love is threatened not by war. but by everyday tragedy.’ Interesting Fact Honore lost his own father when he was 15 years old. (Tom Dawson)
I Les Chansons d 'Amour is on se/ected release from Fri 74- Thu 27 Dec.
'1 Def, 27.7-4 Jan 2908 THE LIST 53