While We're Young

This 2014 American comedy-drama film, directed by Noah Baumbach, follows a New York-based married couple, Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia Srebnick (Naomi Watts), who are experiencing a midlife crisis. Josh, a documentary filmmaker, has been working on a film about leftist intellectual Ira Mandelstam for eight years, facing creative stagnation and refusing help from his producer wife. Their childless marriage has become routine. Their lives change when they meet a young hipster couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Jamie, also a documentarian, expresses admiration for Josh's work and that of his father-in-law, renowned filmmaker Leslie Breitbart (Charles Grodin). Inspired by the younger couple's lifestyle, Josh and Cornelia start spending more time with them, participating in their activities, including an ayahuasca ceremony where Cornelia kisses Jamie. Josh agrees to assist Jamie with his film, which turns out to be staged: the meeting with former classmate Kent Arlington (Brady Corbet) was prearranged. Upon discovering this, Josh faces a moral dilemma and becomes disillusioned with Jamie. In the film's climax, Josh confronts Jamie about his ethical breaches in documentary filmmaking, but Leslie defends Jamie, stating that a good story is what matters. Ultimately, Josh and Cornelia decide to adopt a child from Haiti, realizing that youth is not evil, just young. The film explores themes of aging, artistic integrity, and generational differences.