Retired orchestra conductor Fred Ballinger is on vacation with his daughter Lena and his film director best friend Mick Boyle in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth ... Read allRetired orchestra conductor Fred Ballinger is on vacation with his daughter Lena and his film director best friend Mick Boyle in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday.Retired orchestra conductor Fred Ballinger is on vacation with his daughter Lena and his film director best friend Mick Boyle in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 24 wins & 65 nominations total
- Swing Band
- (as The Retrosettes Sister Band)
- Escort
- (as Gabriela Belisario)
- 1st Queen's Emissary Assistant
- (as Ian Keir Attard)
- Miss Universe
- (as Madalina Ghenea)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter seeing this movie for the first time, Sir Michael Caine wrote writer and director Paolo Sorrentino a letter, saying he was deeply touched, and he described how, during the trip back home in the taxi with his wife, he kept on crying.
- GoofsWhen the conductor comes on stage the violinists in the orchestra are using one hand to clap in their lap. The etiquette is slowly hitting the bow onto the partition support.
- Quotes
Mick Boyle: You say that emotions are overrated. But that's bullshit. Emotions are all we've got.
- Crazy creditsThe film's title credit only appears after 14 minutes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Evening Urgant: Konstantin Kinchev (2015)
- SoundtracksSimple Song #3
Music and lyrics by David Lang
Soprano: Sumi Jo
Violino solo: Viktoria Mullova
Performed by BBC Concert Orchestra
Orchestra conductor: Terry Davies
Orchestra recording at Abbey Road Studios London
Recording assistants: Lewis Jones, John Barrett
Engineer NY: Lawson White
Youth is a tender film in both the characters and the themes: growing old and the fears related to it are common to all men. Fred (Michael Caine) is an old man who still has a lot going on in his life: he has to deal with friendship, love, family and his career. The only thing that makes him different from the younger people surrounding him is that he is aware of memory. It is through memory that he has lost and that he tries to regain his identity. Everyone in the film is in search for identity: the contrast between how people see them and what they want to be seen as.
The screenplay is complex and intense and for this reason sometimes hard to follow. I loved the irony Sorrentino always puts in his movies: through surrealism he is capable of expressing humanity in a simple but yet beautiful way. All the cast delivers great performances and cinematography is absorbing as always. Sorrentino is a director of places: no matter if it is the Eternal City of Rome or an hotel immersed in nature - he is able to capture all the beauty of it.
What the film teaches us, in the end, is that we are what we do - so, I'd add, it's better if we do what we are - but we are nothing without love, which is the driving force of humanity.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- La juventud
- Filming locations
- Flims, Kanton Graubünden, Switzerland(Spa at Park Hotel Waldhaus)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- €12,300,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $2,703,296
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $78,085
- Dec 6, 2015
- Gross worldwide
- $23,469,540
- Runtime2 hours 4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1