A Good Year
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| A Good Year | |
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 Original poster |
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| Directed by | Ridley Scott |
| Produced by | Ridley Scott |
| Written by | Marc Klein (Screenplay) Peter Mayle (Novel) |
| Starring | Russell Crowe Albert Finney Marion Cotillard Abbie Cornish Tom Hollander Freddie Highmore |
| Music by | Marc Streitenfeld |
| Cinematography | Philippe Le Sourd |
| Editing by | Dody Dorn |
| Distributed by | Fox 2000 Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  November 10, 2006 |
| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English, French |
| Budget | US$35 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
A Good Year is a 2006 international romantic comedy film produced and directed by Ridley Scott. Filmed in France and Britain, it featured a cast of British, French, New Zealand and Australian actors. The screenplay by Marc Klein is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Peter Mayle. The film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.
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[edit] Plot
In a prologue, the audience is introduced to young Max Skinner, who spends his summer holidays learning to appreciate the finer things in life from his Uncle Henry at his vineyard estate in Provence in southeastern France. As an adult, Max is an aggressively hard-working London-based investment banker whose schemes to make money border dangerously close to criminal activity. When he receives word of his uncle's death and learns he is the sole beneficiary of the property, he travels to Provence to prepare it for a quick sale. Shortly after his arrival he discovers his latest financial stunt has resulted in a one-week suspension, allowing him time to make necessary repairs while dealing with gruff winemaker Francis Duflot, who fears sale of the estate will result in his losing access to his precious vines, the unexpected arrival of Napa Valley oenophile Christie Roberts, who presents herself as Henry's previously unknown illegitimate daughter, and local café owner Fanny Chenal, whose formidable guard is quickly worn down by the smitten beneficiary.
[edit] Production notes
French locations were filmed at Bonnieux and Gordes in Vaucluse, Marseille Provence Airport, and the rail station in Avignon. London locations included Albion Riverside in Battersea, Broadgate, the Bluebird Cafe on Kings Road in Chelsea, and Piccadilly Circus.
Director Scott and novelist Mayle worked together in advertising and commercials thirty years ago and both are now landowners in the Luberon region of Provence.
The soundtrack includes "Moi Lolita" by Alizée, "Breezin' Along with the Breeze" by Josephine Baker, "Gotta Get Up," "Jump into the Fire," and "How Can I Be Sure of You" by Harry Nilsson, Hey Joe by Johnny Hallyday, "Vous, qui passez sans me voir" and "J'attendrai" by Jean Sablon, "Le chant du gardien" by Tino Rossi, "Je chante" by Charles Trenet, "Old Cape Cod" by Patti Page, "Walk Right Back" by the Everly Brothers, "Boum" by Adrien Chevalier, and "Itsy Bitsy Petit Bikini" by Richard Anthony.
The film was budgeted at $35,000,000. It grossed $7,459,300 in the US and $34,562,783 in international markets and earned $7,342,760 in US DVD sales [1].
[edit] Principal cast
- Russell Crowe ..... Max Skinner
- Albert Finney ..... Uncle Henry
- Marion Cotillard ..... Fanny Chenal
- Abbie Cornish ..... Christie Roberts
- Didier Bourdon ..... Francis Duflot
- Isabelle Candalier ..... Ludivine Duflot
- Freddie Highmore ..... Young Max Skinner
- Tom Hollander ..... Charlie Willis
- Archie Panjabi ..... Gemma
- Kenneth Cranham ..... Sir Nigel
[edit] Critical reception
In his review in the New York Times, Stephen Holden called it "an innocuous, feel-good movie," "a sun-dappled romantic diversion," and "a three-P movie: pleasant, pretty and predictable. One might add piddling . . . A Good Year is the movie equivalent of poring over a glossy brochure for a luxury vacation you could never afford while a roughneck salesman who imagines he has class harangues you to hurry up and make a decision about taking the tour. My advice is to resist the pitch." [2]
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times observed, "Though A Good Year is set in French wine country, it's 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 . . . [it] 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 . . . The fact that we know exactly what will happen to Max from the moment he appears on screen is not what's wrong with A Good Year. After all, we go to films like this precisely because the satisfaction of emotional certainty is what we're looking for. What we're not looking for is a romantic comedy made by individuals with no special feeling for the genre who stretch a half hour's worth of story to nearly two hours." [3]
In Variety, Todd McCarthy called the film "a divertissement, an excuse for the filmmakers and cast to enjoy a couple of months in Provence and for the audience, by proxy, to spend a couple of hours there. A simple repast consisting of sometimes strained slapsticky comedy, a sweet romance and a life lesson learned, this little picnic doesn't amount to much but goes down easily enough . . . Crowe executes a lightweight change of pace with his charisma entirely intact . . . There are moments when the enchanting Cotillard resembles a Gallic, dark-haired Reese Witherspoon, and Aussie thesp Cornish, in her first Hollywood film, continues her quick ascent with a perfect Yank accent and a nice note of observant reserve. The setting could hardly be made to look less than glorious, and production standards are up to what one expects from a Scott picture." [4]
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "Crowe and Scott bring a lot of effort to a project that probably meant a lot to both of them, for entirely different reasons. But despite some stunning visuals and a lot of nice moments, the finished product feels like the work of an actor and director who are out of their element. It's difficult to ignore the fact that they've created a romantic comedy that has almost no romance and even less comedy . . . Scott struggles mightily with the finer points of the genre. The comedy is mostly slapstick, and the forced attempts at hilarity sometimes decline to Benny Hill depths which don't fit well with the rest of the visual tone. And the romance is almost nonexistent until the final third of the film, when Max's courtship becomes so rushed that it seems foolish even by cinematic standards." [5]
In the St. Petersburg Times, Steve Persall rated the film B+ and added it "is a lighter choice than usual for the rugged actor and for Ridley Scott . . . A change of scenery suits them well. Yet they still bring a roguish flavor to the romantic comedy sentiments established by Peter Mayle's novel. This is a chick flick for dudes, too . . . A Good Year runs about a month too long, but it's tough to leave such a lovely place. Scott blends the don't-rush-past-love appeal of Jerry Maguire with the continental air of Under the Tuscan Sun for a robustly romantic diversion." [6]
Jessica Reaves of the Chicago Tribune rated the film two stars out of a possible four and described it as "unbearably sweet and emotionally lifeless." She added, "Despite the occasional seductive moment, A Good Year disappoints. The film, for all its pretensions of revelatory, life-altering enlightenment, is actually about as deep as a wading pool, as substantive as cotton candy." [7]
In the UK, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it "a humourless cinematic slice of tourist gastro-porn," [8] while Philip French of The Observer remarked, "I'm not in favour of veils, but I'd make an exception for Ridley Scott's A Good Year, over which one should be drawn immediately." [9]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- A Good Year at the Internet Movie Database
- A Good Year at Rotten Tomatoes
- Film screenplay at MovieScriptPlace.com
- Filming locations in Provence
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