Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. The two men reflect on their past, each finding that some of the most important experiences can come later in life.
It's cinema-as-drug, and while there is certainly a human dimension underlying this, the film's raw pleasure as a surface-level object doesn't necessarily insist on our doing that much digging.
Here gorgeous visuals and great music - no spoilers - do wonders for eyes and ears while Caine and his co-stars prove the best of visitors to both head and heart.
A sometimes Felliniesque exercise in irksome pretension and confounding indulgence grounded by two tremendous performances and somehow, despite itself, offering flashes of profound loveliness.
Sumptuous, sincere and built on aging bones, "Youth" is a wonder of a film, a look back at life's sprawling possibilities, dark corners and aspirations.
