US actors Jane Fonda and Robert Redford attend the premier of the movie "Our Souls at Night" during the 74th Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2017 at Venice Lido. (AFP Photo)
Venice: Half a century after they first starred opposite each other, screen legends Jane Fonda and Robert Redford have teamed up again in a poignant tale of love, loneliness and companionship in later life.
"Our Souls at Night" had its world premiere Friday at the Venice film festival, where the veteran stars were to be presented later with Golden Lions in recognition of two of the longest and most successful careers in US cinema.
Based on a Kent Haruf novel, the Netflix production sees Indian director Ritesh Batra delve into a world of creaking bones and reading lights that is increasingly a focus for a film industry chasing the disposable income of retired baby boomers.
Fonda and Redford play Addie Moore and Louis Waters, a pair of retired, widowed neighbours living quiet lives in small-town Colorado.
They have known each other for years, but never really known each other.
That changes when, on the instigation of Addie, they begin sharing a bed - on the basis that company and conversation will help Addie's insomnia and ease the loneliness they both feel most acutely after dark.
As the friendship develops, the nighttime chat becomes more serious. It emerges Addie and Louis share lingering regrets over how they handled traumatic moments in their married lives and consequent strains in their relationships with their adult children.
The bond between the two deepens when Addie's seven-year-old grandson comes to stay with her while his newly-single father struggles to keep his life on track.
Soon the question of what kind of relationship they are having, and where it is headed, becomes more pressing.