Youth

Septuagenarian friends Fred Ballinger and Mick Boyle arrive at a luxury Swiss spa to spend a quiet vacation in the Alps. They settle into the resort's routines and meet a cast of eccentric guests while reflecting on aging and lost ambitions. The tranquil setting frames the movie's meditation on memory and art.

An emissary for Queen Elizabeth II visits Fred with news of a knighthood and a request to perform Simple Song #3 at Prince Philip's birthday concert. Fred declines, stating he is no longer interested in performing publicly. He still experiences private moments of musical creativity when he is alone.

Mick Boyle continues his film project, gathering writers to shape his latest film, which he calls his testament. He envisions a leading role for Brenda Morel and debates how cinema should be remembered. The group hones ideas in the resort's writing spaces.

Actor Jimmy Tree studies for a forthcoming role and vents that he is known mainly for his past robot part. He roams the hotel, chasing authenticity while feeling trapped by his own typecasting. His presence adds a layer of meta-commentary about fame.

Lena Ballinger, Fred's daughter and Mick's daughter-in-law, remains at the resort and uses the staff as sounding boards for her anger toward her father. She resents the emotional distance from him during her upbringing and questions the value of inherited fame. The tensions between generations plant the deeper ache of the story.

Meanwhile, Mick reveals his own marital and professional discontent when he leaves Lena for pop star Paloma Faith. The affair deepens the rift between father and daughter-in-law and poisons the resort's fragile calm. This event heightens the sense that both men face personal obsolescence.

The emissary returns to press Fred again, and Lena weeps as Fred explains that he will not perform Simple Song #3. He says the soprano part belongs to his wife, who can no longer sing. The scene frames the looming end of Fred's public life and his private fidelity.

Mick finishes the screenplay and feels a sense of closure, with Brenda Morel envisioned as the aging diva at the center of his tale. He senses the weight of a career that has not lived up to his earlier dreams. The project frames the film's meditation on legacy.

Brenda Morel unexpectedly arrives at the resort and tells Mick she will take a television role instead of pursuing his film. She asserts that cinema is in the past and that he hasn't made a good film in years. Her blunt realism shatters Mick's stubborn hope.

In a devastating moment, Mick jumps from a balcony in front of Fred, choosing death over continuing his sense of failure. Fred is left stunned by the tragedy and confronted with the fragility of his old friend's spirit. The act propels Fred into a rare emotional decision.

Grief and memory push Fred to visit his wife for the first time in years, finding her senile but present in a care home in Venice. He speaks with her softly and feels the weight of shared history despite her decline. The visit reinforces the theme of memory's endurance against time.

Fred travels back to the United Kingdom to conduct his Simple Song #3 in front of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. He performs despite his own misgivings, delivering the piece as a testament to a life spent in music. The moment binds his private art to a public ceremony, reconciling past and present.

Throughout the film, dreamlike images intrude on the characters' reality, including a levitating monk, an imagined Paloma Faith music video, and visions of old leading ladies on a mountaintop. The surreal sequences punctuate the narrative, underscoring the characters' memories and fantasies. They act as a counterpoint to the film's sober meditation on aging.