Cannes Review: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s ‘Forever Young’
deadline.comIf you’re the parent of a kid who’s thinking about becoming an actor, nothing could be scarier than watching Forever Young (Les Amandiers).
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s overweeningly verité-style look at young members of theater whiz Patrice Chéreau’s legendary company in the 1980s is a let’s-put-on-a-show spectacle of an extreme order, one that emphasizes and encourages unlimited narcissism, uncensored selfishness, massive drug consumption and self-destructive behavior that would have made the Sex Pistols envious.
This Cannes competition entry is a deep dive into an all-for-art lifestyle that encourages, nay, insists upon waywardness and irresponsibility and the hell with anything else.
Those seriously into the performing arts of the last four decades might be curious to check this out, but it’s a tough sit nonetheless.The proceedings begin with an exceedingly intense audition scene in which hopefuls are bluntly asked, “Why do you want to act?” Very quickly, the answer becomes clear, even if not stated directly — it’s because they crave attention, need approval and have emotional needs that can only be fed by people making them feel that they’re important.
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