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‘A Good Year’ review
BY MAGGIE SCOTT
As director Ridley Scott’s new romantic comedy, “A Good Year” opens, we meet smooth operator Maximilian Skinner in high gear. He can go from dumping broads to dumping bonds without missing a beat.
Comfortable with the fact that he’s the biggest one on “greedy bastard day” at his investment bank, Max (Russell Crowe) believes he’s got all he wants from his fast lane life in London. Then, a chance to discover life’s true riches comes out of the blue with the news of the death of his cherished childhood mentor.
A reclusive vintner, Uncle Henry (Albert Finney) tutored the pre-teen Max in life’s truths: “A man learns nothing from winning; but don’t make a habit of it.” The loss of Henry is the beginning of a lesson Max needs to learn about acknowledging your authentic self and the values that reflect life’s true meaning.
At first Henry’s French vineyard is just an opportunity for profits, if Max can spruce up the chateau’s “bygone era patina” and determine the value of the grapes he vaguely remembers yielding a wine more vinegar than “sublime nectar.”
Although he would have preferred to handle things long distance, a forced leave of absence sends him to Provence; but disposing of the property won’t be as clean and neat as Max wants. First, there’s Francis Duflot (Didier Bourdon) who hints that his close relationship with Henry and his devotion to the vines make him the logical inheritor of La Siroque.
Then, there’s the stunning bistro owner, Fanny Chenal (Marion Cotillard) who stirs the first honest feelings Max has had for a woman in a long time. And, finally, there is the long-lost “cousin” (Abbey Cornish) of distracting beauty who arrives unannounced claiming she’s Henry’s daughter; and, as Max soon learns, the rightful heir according to French law.
acknowledges the profound connection he has to this small plot of paradise and his uncle’s wisdom about people, about wine and about love to make the right choice for the future of the vineyard.
Ridley Scott keeps his touch light casting not only the spell of Provence, but also Crowe’s boyish magnetism and an abundance of feminine bodily charms. Twentieth Century Fox release, rated PG-13 for language and sexual content.
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