The two previous reviewers really liked this. I thought it was a pretty average made-for-TV type movie.
It tells the story of two brothers and a sister who inherit a vineyard in the Burgundy region of France. They have to pay steep inheritance taxes on it, and the two brothers have complications on their lives. All this gets worked out by the end of the movie amid a lot of shots of very beautiful Burgundy vineyards - and one very desolate supposedly Australian but actually Spanish one for contrast. The three leads are attractive young folk, and there's even a little sex - basically one scene, just where you would expect it.
It's pretty much a paint by the numbers movie, pleasant but unremarkable.
Plot summary
Three siblings reunite at their home in picturesque Burgundy to save the family vineyard in this tender tale of a new generation finding its own unique blend from acclaimed director Cédric Klapisch (L'Auberge Espagnole). Jean (Pio Marmai),the black sheep of the family, unexpectedly returns home from a decade abroad to reconnect with his hospitalized father. He's welcomed by his strong-willed sister, Juliette (Ana Girardot),who took over the reins of the vineyard after their father fell ill, and Jeremie (Francois Civil),the youngest of the three who has recently married into one of the region's more prestigious wine families. Their father passes shortly after Jean's return, leaving them with the estate and a looming inheritance tax of half a million dollars. As four seasons and two harvests go by, Jean, Juliette, and Jeremie have to learn to reinvent their relationship and trust in each other as they work to preserve the land that ties them together.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
An average TV movie with lots of beautiful landscape photography
The emigrant experience reversed.
Best film I've seen (#5) of the Sydney film festival (so far, 7 to go). It's French, it's charming, but it is never a cliché. That's difficult because the world in general has so many preconceptions about France. It's about wine, and Thank You, I learnt a lot. The cinema was full, lots of French people and lots of French speakers, including those, comme moi, who vaguely imagine we speak French. The French wine board missed an opportunity, they could have had a testing in the foyer, and it would have been a sucès folle.
It's a film about family, and how you cannot really know them, no matter how you think you do. It's also about tax and travel, and for all the French people out there, please note: There are NO inheritance taxes in Australia. And it is easy to work for yourself. No permission or paperwork required, just sweat.
That is probably why Jean is growing wine in Australia. He is torn between his life here and his life in Burgundy, and a satisfactory answer is hard to find. It is a chord which every Australian understands (and why this film should get wide release here, please) we all go back to Burgundy or Thessiloniki or Liverpool to find what we left, and for many of us, it turns out to be just not what we remembered for good or bad. The way this is shown, so lightly and, very delicately, is one of several reasons this film is special. The ending is particularly good.
Excellent movie
It is an excellent movie that made me experience a lot of feelings. Definitely, needs to be watched by people. All the interactions between the main characters make the public feel really involved with the movie. The director really did an effort in applying the best technology for the elaboration of the movie.