Maybe not such a good âYearâ
Figuring out why director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe were happy as can be to make âA Good Yearâ is not difficult. Whatâs harder to come up with are compelling reasons to see it.
Director Scott not only owns a vineyard in the gorgeous Luberon region of Provence, where âA Good Yearâ is set, he is a good friend of Peter Mayle, who also lives in Provence and wrote the novel the film is based on. More than that, Scott gave Mayle the idea for the book. âThis shoot,â the director says, âwas one of my most pleasant experiences.â
Crowe, who got to live in the area for two months, says, âI loved waking up in Provence.â Also not complaining was screenwriter Marc Klein, who, according to the press notes, spent âalmost a year researching the region and the wines.â Not exactly the assignment from hell.
No one is begrudging these hard-working movie-land professionals some time in the sun. It wouldâve been nice, however, if more of the pleasure they experienced translated onto the movie screen, but little of it does. Though âA Good Yearâ is set in French wine country, itâs best described as small beer. The scenery may be attractive and the cast likewise, but something vital is missing in this all-too-leisurely film, just as there is in the overly hectic life of protagonist Max Skinner, played by Crowe.
Our Max is a London investment banker, a master of the universe who manipulates markets and tells his minions, âWeâre not here for the dental plan.â Heâs an emotionless, self-satisfied moneymaking machine who is about to find out that even mountains of cash canât always buy you what you need.
Thatâs right, âA Good Yearâ is one of those ever-popular movies in which impossibly rich people, clueless about what really matters, turn out to be incapable of enjoying the simple things in life. As if.
Undeterred by his status as a cliche, Max is unmoved by a letter telling him that his favorite Uncle Henry has died and left him the chateau and vineyard in the midst of glorious Provence, where he spent summers as a boy. Max decides to go over and have a quick look before selling the place and making a killing.
This cold plan notwithstanding, a series of flashbacks to our hero as a child (âFinding Neverlandâsâ Freddie Highmore) tells us that Max had more of a connection to Uncle Henry (Albert Finney at his most garrulous) than he wants to admit. Once Max arrives at the La Siroque vineyard and reconnects with its cranky winemaker Francis (Didier Bourdon) and his coquettish wife, Ludivine (Isabelle Candelier), the memories of golden childhood moments gradually come flooding back.
If this isnât conventional enough, Max has a predictable cute-meet with the most beautiful woman in town, the lovely Fanny Chenal (Marion Cotillard, Cesar winner for âA Very Long Engagementâ), nearly running her down on her bicycle while heâs reading a map as he drives his car. Despite this promising beginning, however, Max is soon informed that âit is rumored she will let no man near her heart.â Quelle dommage!
Also a problem is that the wine La Siroque produces appears to be dreadful, hampering that much desired sale. An additional obstacle is the sudden appearance of a fetching young woman-oenophile from California (Australiaâs Abbie Cornish) who claims to be Uncle Henryâs illegitimate daughter and is saddled with such dreadful lines as, âBack in Napa weâre known to gargle and spit on occasion.â
The fact that we know exactly what will happen to Max from the moment he appears on screen is not whatâs wrong with âA Good Year.â After all, we go to films like this precisely because the satisfaction of emotional certainty is what weâre looking for.
What weâre not looking for is a romantic comedy made by individuals with no special feeling for the genre who stretch a half hourâs worth of story to nearly two hours. Russell Crowe is invariably involving on screen, and Ridley Scott is a splendid director when the material is right. No film they collaborate on will be devoid of interest, but âA Good Yearâ almost is. If Scott was, in his own words, âlooking for an excuse to come back to France to shoot a film,â itâs a pity he didnât hold out for a project that would please audiences as well as himself.
*
âA Good Yearâ
MPAA rating: PG-13 for language and some sexual content
A 20th Century Fox release of a Fox 2000 presentation. Director-producer Ridley Scott. Screenplay Marc Klein. Based on the book by Peter Mayle. Director of photography Philippe Le Sourd. Editor Dody Dorn. Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes.
In general release.
Only good movies
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