Forever Young
A British sci-fi drama about the possibility of eternal youth is really very, very silly.
Stephanie Beacham and Diana Quick
When looking back on the cinema releases of 2023 I was pleased to pick out three memorable performances by elderly players. The films in which they appeared were not necessarily greatly distinguished but they made for worthwhile viewing. Unfortunately, it is far more often the case that those who want to continue acting in old age end up by failing to find roles worthy of them. Forever Young is, alas, a case in point. In addition to luring in Stephanie Beacham, Elizabeth Counsell and Cleo Sylvestre for supporting roles, it stars those admired players Bernard Hill and Diana Quick as well as providing a cameo for Julian Glover. But, however good the actors here, it is impossible not to find special meaning in the phrase used by Hill when he refers to "this silly, silly business". To be blunt about it, despite this being a January release I think it unlikely that a worse film will appear this year.
Forever Young is the work of Henk Pretorius. His direction here is passible but the screenplay which he has written based on a story devised by him and two others carries no conviction whatever. Its central concern lies in exploring what happens when a couple who have been married for fifty years, Oscar and Robyn Smith, are suddenly invited to believe that an old flame of Robyn’s, Jim Petrak, has discovered an elixir of life which, when taken, will restore your youthful looks and then maintain them forever. The only slight drawback is that you need a health check first so when Oscar (Hill) learns that he has pancreatic cancer we understand why he rejects Jim’s offer of his serum. We may, though, question his decision not to tell his wife about the diagnosis he has received since that would help to clarify his refusal to take the elixir. But what is even harder to accept is the notion that Robyn (Quick) would go ahead of her own accord on the assumption that if it works for her Oscar will change his mind about using the serum.
Some tales about elixirs take the form of comedies but Forever Young is in deadly earnest. Consequently, if the audience is to buy into the far-fetched notion at the centre of the tale, the film needs to first create believable characters. Yet we soon find that Hill is speaking lines that even he cannot put over as persuasively naturalistic. Quick makes a valiant attempt at it, but she will before long disappear from the film since Robyn does indeed become her young self and is now played by Amy Tyger. It's also the case that Jim Petrak first seen in old age when Glover has the role takes on his younger form too and is played by Mark Jackson. The drama that now plays out has Jim in his new persona hoping to win the rejuvenated Robyn away from Oscar. For her part she is willing to appear to succumb but only to make old Oscar so jealous that he too will take the elixir. But after secretly dosing him with the serum she then (oh God!) discovers that it will be fatal for him because he has cancer.
In recent times two British films – The Eternal Daughter and All of Us Strangers – have both successfully created a narrative that takes a highly stylised turn which allows for detailed discussions about relationships that express more than could readily be said in a realistic setting. It could be argued that Pretorius is trying to do something similar here since the elixir theme becomes a way of bringing the marriage of Oscar and Robyn into fuller focus: his contentment with a very ordinary life, her sense of not being truly fulfilled despite having had a career as a novelist, the revelation of an abortion and the importance (or not) of a woman becoming a mother. The latter element also brings in a subplot about Jim's daughter (Anna Wolf) that again lacks conviction. In the films I have mentioned what emerges from their fanciful scenes sheds a truthful light on relationships but everything about Forever Young simply feels preposterous.
It is, of course, sad for the actors involved and I should add that the younger players, Tyger and Jackson, also do as well as can be expected in the circumstances. Out of fairness, I should add that some people clearly take a much more positive view of Henk Pretorius’s work than I do: he has won awards for two earlier films which I have not seen and this work even gained an award as best foreign feature. But, far from recanting, I would point out that that award for Forever Young came at the 2023 Atlanta Horror Film Festival despite which I don't even think that this is a film that belongs in that genre.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Diana Quick, Bernard Hill, Amy Tyger, Mark Jackson, Stephanie Beacham, Anna Wolf, Julian Glover, Jack Bennett, Gilbert Wynne, Elizabeth Counsell, Cleo Sylvestre. Annabella Teixeira, Sidney Kean.
Dir Henk Pretorius, Pro Barend Kruger, Screenplay Henk Pretorius, from a story by Henk Pretorius, Jennifer Nicole Stang and Greg Blyth, Ph Lorenzo Levrini, Pro Des Felix Coles, Ed Megan Gill, Costumes Gabrielle Edmunds.
Trigger Films/Dark Matter Studios-Miracle Comms.
100 mins. UK. 2024. UK Rel: 26 January 2024. Cert. 15.
