retirement and comeback

His films often explore protagonists navigating career reinvention and the psychological toll of ambition, as seen in *The Social Network* and *Gone Girl*.

*Youth* directly examines aging artists grappling with legacy, creative exhaustion, and the possibility of artistic resurrection.

His later works like *Gran Torino*, *The Mule*, and *Cry Macho* repeatedly feature aging men confronting obsolescence and finding renewed purpose.