Paolo Sorrentino's 'Youth' presents paradoxes of aging at Cannes

The composer Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine) is asked by the Queen of England to perform his music that the prince likes so much, but he cannot accept the invitation since the only one who can sing his songs now has Alzheimer’s, his wife who is in a hospital in Venice. Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel) is working on his latest film with his dysfunctional crew.

Jane Fonda as septuagenarian actress Brenda More has the more vital role of the trio, which has do with the internal power Fonda brings to her roles. She spoke at the “Youth” press conference of passion being the inspirational life force of youth and aging. The two terms are not only paradoxical but mutually inclusive, for youth is about becoming and aging is about the stagnation of becoming. Yet youth must eventually age and cease becoming, consequently aging becomes the real achievement.

Miss Universe (Madalina Ghenea) enters the hotel swimming pool without a suit as Mick and Fred look on. The image is the film’s icon. They call her ”God”. They observe someone moving that is evolving while they have already reached the plateau where this young body is slowly gravitating towards. They are all "God" in this image yet Sorrentino separates them.

Brenda More tells Mick that is films are no longer good and that he should stop making them. He is insulted and retorts that television has ruined film but she disagrees and says television is where it is at today. He reminds her how he saved her from "sleeping her way to the top." She replies that it is what she wanted - to pay her own way.

Another character of "Youth" is the young actor Jimmy Tree (Paul Dano) who is eternally associated with a role he played in a film that he wants to forget.

The films in the "Cannes Classics" section are important commemorations of the film language of the past, but in today’s cinematic lingua franca they are stagnant. This year films include narratives on revolutions and corruption in governments such as Costa Gavras “Z” (jury prize at Cannes 1969) and Fernando Solanas’ Sud (director’s prize at Cannes 1988), and love that comforts those hard times.

Since film is a time form it is both young when it is conceived and stagnant over time. It has stopped developing, progressing, moving, and filmmakers must make new work.

The most resilient and fresh part of “Youth” is the placement of several women in the Swiss alps showing how stereotypical women’s roles have been in film throughout Mick’s career. These images correspond with the truths of Brenda More, who later is shown in a compromised position in an airplane when her wig falls off.

Rachel Weisz as Lena Ballinger has one of those limited roles where she is "good in bed", like Brenda More, and wakes up next to her father to tell him that. She falls for a mountain climber to illustrate that she will be growing in that vein till she is as old as her father. It is not only in the Swiss alps but throughout film history that women have remained one dimensional.

The ensemble Fred Balinger, Mick Boyle, Lena Balinger, Miss World, Jimmy Tree and Brenda More show that youth and age comprise an organic whole, and that one dimensional roles for women do not make men three dimensional. Sorrentino gets credit for opening up an important discussion on these subjects.