Philosophy and novella do not mix!

Youth without youth (2007)

Quite a bizarre movie which never got much of a positive review, especially as this film was Francis Ford Coppola’s offering after a ten years hiatus.

This movie tried to marry the mysticism of philosophy, the charm of the era circa pre-WW2 Continental Europe and the lure of lost love. Unfortunately, the marriage looked unpromising from the start with the broody faced Tim Roth (of ‘Lie to Me’ TV series fame).

A 70 something professor is hit by lightning and miraculously survives his ordeal after what seems like a near 100% burn of total body surface! His body regrows his teeth and skin appendages and gives him a youthful glow of a 30year man. Before the accident, he used to be a multi-lingual seeker of knowledge and learner of languages. Amidst the sprawling Nazi troops, who are very anxious to discover the secret of his recovery in their quest for making the superior man, the professor, manages to fall in love with a lady who, after being caught in a storm, starts talking in Sanskrit, Sumerian and other ancient languages. The film becomes very abstract after that, and I lost the plot.

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