Youth Without Youth starts as a visual spectacle and I had my doubts about 30 minutes in if the story was going to keep up. Bruno Ganz, Wim Wender's muse, plays along side Roth as the mad scientist. He actually says something like "you are the most valuable specimen on the face of the earth. Come, have your chicken." Its based on a story by Mircea Eliade and tells the tale of an older man struck by lightning who reverts to young age and becomes blessed with powers including telekinesis. He re-meets his bride (played very nicely by the beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara, also infected by the lightning) and gets another stab at the relationship only to find out the Nazis are interested in his powers, forcing him to flee his native Hungary. This also has something to do with Theology and certainly is based in the history of Philosophy and probably appeals to those types.
It is beautiful to watch, and certainly on the Blu-Ray. But for me, its a total mess.