Youth

Fred Ballinger and Mick Boyle arrive at a luxurious spa in Flims, tucked in the snowy Swiss Alps, to escape their pasts. The retreat hums with eccentric guests and a quiet sense of aging and memory. They settle into the rhythms of a life away from fame and obligation.

An emissary for Queen Elizabeth II visits Fred with an offer: a knighthood and a performance of Simple Song #3 at Prince Philip's birthday concert. Fred is not interested in performing anymore, and he makes clear that his music lives in his head rather than on stage. The encounter foreshadows the sacrifices and refusals that haunt him.

Mick Boyle works with a group of writers on the screenplay for his latest film, a project he calls his testament. He plans a central role for aging diva Brenda Morel, hoping to capture cinema's last breath. He clings to the idea that, even as the art form shifts, there is meaning in shaping it with his words.

Actor Jimmy Tree roams the resort, gathering material for his upcoming part and lamenting that he is most remembered for a robotic character. His study highlights how fame fixes certain images in an actor’s mind. He searches in the resort’s corners for the spark that will redefine him.

Lena Ballinger, Fred's daughter and Mick’s daughter-in-law, remains at the resort and vents anger about Fred’s emotional distance during her childhood. The tension between generations and careers weighs on everyone as relationships fray. Her presence anchors the emotional cost of their fame.

The emissary returns to press Fred again, and Lena breaks down in tears as Fred explains why he will not perform. He reiterates that the soprano part belongs to his wife, who can no longer sing. The moment deepens the sense of lost chances that threads through the retreat.

Mick completes the screenplay and feels a quiet satisfaction at having captured something enduring. Brenda Morel unexpectedly arrives at the resort, only to reveal she is choosing a television role instead; she dismisses cinema as a thing of the past. The encounter leaves Mick shaken and questioning his craft's relevance.

Disheartened and overwhelmed by the changing tides of cinema, Mick steps onto a balcony and jumps to his death before Fred. The act shatters the resort’s calm and propels Fred toward a life-altering choice. The suicide casts a long shadow over the remaining story.

Fred decides to visit his wife for the first time in years, traveling to a care home in Venice where she is senile and largely unresponsive. The brief reunion underscores Fred’s loneliness and the consequences of decades apart. It also reframes his view of love and memory.

Fred returns to England to conduct Simple Song #3 in front of the Queen and Prince. The performance reframes his career as a collision of memory, legacy, and the demands of a royal audience. He confronts the reality that his music is tied to what remains possible rather than what he wants to do.

Throughout the film, a levitating monk appears, a surreal image that interrupts the resort’s quiet conversations. The vision blurs the line between memory and fantasy, inviting reflection on faith and wonder. It is one of several dreamlike interruptions that punctuate the narrative.

An imagined Paloma Faith music video cuts through the retreat’s stillness, contrasting theatrical fantasy with the characters’ ordinary lives. The fantasy emphasizes longing for performance and stardom amid aging and irrelevance. It acts as a mirror to the film’s preoccupations with fame.

In another jarring cut, Jimmy Tree appears dressed as Adolf Hitler, a provocative image that unsettles the viewer and comments on the dangers of performance and identity. The sequence sits alongside the resort’s gentle textures, heightening the film’s contrasts. It reinforces the theme that art can confront discomfort head-on.

A pastoral fantasy shows Fred conducting a field of cowbells instead of an orchestra, turning a simple countryside scene into a strange, musical moment. The image underscores Fred’s detachment from conventional performance and his solitary reign over sound. It probes the loneliness and whimsy at the heart of aging artists.

Mick envisions all his former leading ladies gathered on a mountaintop, including Brenda in a new TV role. The dream crystallizes his regrets and the price of chasing fame, contrasting the glamour of the past with the present’s bleakness. It functions as a closure-like reflection on his career.