Forever Young

Paris, late 1980s: For a handful of young women and men, a dream comes true when they are accepted into the renowned “Théâtre des Amandiers” drama school. Under the direction of the brilliant and unconventional director Patrice Chéreau (Louis Garrel), the group of students is tasked with staging Chekhov’s “Platonov.” Amid wild parties, romantic entanglements, and intense rehearsals, the young people grow closer together. Stella (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), talented and beautiful, also throws herself into the wild and unpredictable life that the world of acting has in store for her—partly out of fear of letting her own youth slip away. New friendships are formed, and first great loves ignite. But both on and off stage, the line between performance and reality becomes increasingly blurred... “Les Amandiers,” the film’s original French title, is an autobiographically inspired tragicomedy by French actress and director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Her experiences as a young woman at the Théâtre des Amandiers near Paris in the 1980s—marked by a raw zest for life, passion, and her first tragic experiences—are woven into an energetic and emotionally charged portrait of a generation. Particularly compelling are the authentic performances and the lively direction, which so impressively capture the characters’ sense of new beginnings and vulnerability that Tedeschi was invited to enter her film in the competition at the Cannes Film Festival.