A grand resort in the Swiss Alps is the setting for Polo Sorrentino’s Youth. Amidst the old world and somewhat melancholy elegance of the hotel, an assortment of guests found shelter from their glamorous existences as if to pause and take stock of their lives. Among them are Michael Caine, a retired composer and orchestra director, and his old friend Harvey Keitel, an award winning Hollywood director who is trying to overcome his creative block and write his next picture in which he hopes to cast aging grand dame Jane Fonda. Paolo Sorrentino who first came to the attention of U.S. audiences with Il Divo (2008), won the Best Foreign Film Globe in 2014 with his widely acclaimed The Great Beauty. With Youth, his second English-language effort, he has crafted a quietly lyrical meditation on life, friendship and aging. The HFPA’s Silvia Bizio spoke to him, Keitel and Fonda about the film.

Luca Celada