Forever Young

Valeria BRUNI TEDESCHI made a film about her time as an acting student at the Theater des Amandiers. In the 1980s, the theater in Nanterre, located a little west of the Grande Arche in the Paris high-rise district of La Defense, became a center of the theater world that was recognized throughout Europe thanks to the director Patrice CHEREAU (GOLDEN BEAR 2001 for INTIMACY).

So it's no wonder that young acting talents like Stella (CESAR AWARD for Nadia TERESZKIEWICZ) do a lot to be accepted at this school. The training there not only promises early theater fame, but also appearances in the films of the great master Patrice CHEREAU (played superbly by Louis GARREL). Only twelve of the young talents manage to get one of the coveted places. But then the hard work really begins. And also exploitation in the name of noble art! Stella, who grew up extremely wealthy, soon falls for her mysterious classmate Etienne (also controversial in real life: Sofiane BENNACER), who is too violent and too dependent on heroin. But drugs are also an important topic for Master Chereau and the school principal Pierre Romans (played by Micha LESCOT). Of course, for the acting students it's not just about who gets to play what or who in Anton Chekhov's PLATONOV. Abortions, the fear of AIDS and regular emotional crashes accompany the acting students through their nerve-wracking training...

Valeria BRUNI TEDESCHI doesn't actually tell a new story, but the way she tells this story of development makes it clear what it means to get involved in this revealing profession of acting. More than once, as a viewer, you want to turn away out of embarrassment. This film makes it clear to film lovers and theater lovers how precarious and merciless the work of the actors we admire really is. This isn't easy fare, but it does provide an unvarnished insight into what's going on behind the stage, which we don't actually want to know anything about because it would destroy our cherished illusions.

This film, which is worth seeing, is excellently cast right down to the supporting roles. Mention should be made of Vassili SCHNEIDER as another classmate, Bernard NISSILE as Stella's butler and the great Suzanne LINDON (Spring Blossoms), whose performance brings together the entire tragedy of a life in the shadow of art.

Due to the headlines surrounding the main actor BENNACER, this film and the background to its creation have probably not entirely undeservedly fallen into disrepute. Valeria BRUNI TEDESCHI has nevertheless managed to create a deeply touching and, above all, illuminating film about the precarious conditions and psychological dependencies in which great art is still created today.

The importance of Patrice Chéreau (1944-2013) in the fields of theater, opera and even cinema is well established. An actor and director with an impressive track record, he was also, from 1982 to 1990, co-director (with Pierre Romans) of the decentralized Théâtre de Nanterre (also known as the Théâtre des Amandiers). There, he simultaneously recreated a new theater, founded a drama school and opened a restaurant. Chéreau's reputation was such that for once trendy Parisians put aside their contempt for the suburbs and literally flocked to Nanterre.. The same is true of many actors, whether well-known or apprenticed, who, irresistibly attracted by Chéreau's aura, came to Les Amandiers eager to take part in plays he staged and/or to follow his classes. Among the fledgling young talents, many were prepared to do anything to rub shoulders with the genius but only a (happy?) few were selected - through a competition. In their number were for instance Eva Ionesco, Vincent Pérez, Agnès Jaoui and - guess who? -, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, the future director of "Forever Young". For the record, you can witness the materialization of their efforts in a film Patrice Chéreau made in 1986, featuring them and a few others of his drama students, "Hôtel de France".

It was a time of artistic passion as well as of free sex and drugs, an atmosphere "Forever Young" manages to recreate with great intensity. But it was also a time for psychological abuse. Ask Agnès Jaoui what she thinks about the question and see how Valéria Bruni Tedeschi illustrates this aspect here.

Chéreau, as she depicts him (not everyone agrees with her on that point), is a tyrannical, capricious and self-imbued demiurge, who enjoys bullying his young troupe at a whim. It's all in the name of high art naturally, but does that justify the constant mistreatment of these young persons, ready to do anything to get into the master's good graces? The eternal question of the trainer regarding those he's training as soft dough kneadable at will, unheeding the fact that he is bruising - not to say traumatizing - them, perhaps for life. Louis Garrel, who has become one of the greatest contemporary actors, excels in bringing the prickly genius to life. With the closed face of one that carries around in his head a universe inaccessible to the common mortal, he sulks, screams, displays indifference, listens to the sound of his own voice, kisses, slams the door, gives absurd orders. Garrel is so convincing that he manages to scare even us spectators. Around him, a cast of brilliant young performers who give their all to their roles, just the way Chéreau's emulators did in their day. Among them, all excellent, two shine particularly : Nadia Tereszkiewicz (passionate, excessive, tortured, incandescent) and Sofiane Bennacer (somber, menacing, uncontrollable). Their fiery relationships, both poisonous are reminiscent of the dark atmosphere of "Wuthering Heights", which is no small compliment.

One thing's for sure: far from being only a challenge to the Chéreau myth of Patrice Chéreau, "Forever Young" is Valérie Bruni Tedeschi's most intense, most uncomfortable, most heartfelt and least humorous film. It won't appeal to everyone, but those who enjoy it will come away not only moved but genuinely upset.