*Contains spoilers*
Who are the real cultural custodians? Generational discourse masquerading as rom-.com , While We’re Young, which was written and directed by Noah Baumbach, is a really intelligent, funny and thoughtful film.
Josh and Cornelia (Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts) are a middle-aged couple, both working in film, whose marriage is getting moribund. Everyone around them is having kids, but they fail to see the appeal.
When they befriend a much younger couple, Darby and Jamie (Amanda Seyfried and Adam Driver) they’re initially seduced by their spontaneity and youth. But, as time passes, suspicions grow that Jamie , who’s making a documentary, has questionable ethics, a doubt that Josh struggles to reconcile, as he himself has been trying (for the best part of a decade) to make his own.
When Josh discovers that a scene in Jamie’s film has indeed been staged to induce a sense of emotional manipulation, Darby corroborates this, and Josh is disgusted with Jamie, his lies, and his sense of entitlement. It’s here Darby also admits that she and Jamie, too, are on shaky ground.
Initially, Josh ‘s assumption was that Jamie and Darby are living free from snobbish assumptions about art: “It’s Jay Z; it’s Thin Lizzy; it’s Mozart. It’s democratic. It’s The Goonies, it’s Citizen Kane. They don’t distinguish between high or low art.”
But later, thoroughly disillusioned with Jamie, he confronts him, saying, “You just take”. He’s met with a simple shrug. Jamie has no fucks to give, and probably never did.
Although the film was released nine years ago, and was lampooning the millennial hipster culture, sadly, I think Baumbach tapped into the narcissistic behaviour of certain Gen Z-ers today, famous for being famous; vain, spoilt influencers, or making successful careers through money rather than merit. With such selfish, entitled behaviour on the increase, Baumbach ‘s script really seemed to anticipate something. The young, rich and beautiful are given a free pass by the tastemakers.’Twas ever thus, and now it’s getting worse.
French film poster
Hit The North 