Youth Without Youth

Tim Roth plays Dominic Matei, an ageing professor of linguistics, who heads to Bucharest in the late 1930s. Matei miraculously survives being struck by lightning and when nursed back to health he finds he's recaptured his youth, despite his inwardly septuagenarian status. He soon becomes a highly-sought after human being, with the Nazis particularly keen to witness his phenomenon, but Matei escapes their clutches and is left with a dilemma - concentrate on his studies into the origins of language or pursue his true love, Laura (Maria Lara). Written, directed and produced by Coppola, Youth Without Youth is elegantly staged and achieves resonance through the persuasive performance of Roth. The film is let down by a sea of linguistic terminology which overburdens the script and would test the hardiest intellectual. It only becomes more accessible late on as the unwavering passion between Matei and Laura becomes more profound. [Matt Arnoldi]