Perry Kate
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Murphy Howard
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
philipfoxe
Some excellent playing in this film which really works because its French. Some have commented on the character of the son, Martin and that he is an unsympathetic character. In Hollywood, he would have been a lovely doe-eyed sweetie pie, but this is a French movie. A son who has been constantly neglected, abused and criticised by his father is likely to be introverted, resentful and unconfident and so he is. It is to be admired that he is portrayed as flawed and uncharismatic. His loyal and loving wife keeps him going and supports him-without her he would not cope. This film, with more work, money, time etc could have been a classic, but it is still a good reason to value the French film industry.
willev1
The film is a well-crafted study of two fathers and two sons. One father owns a prestigious French vineyard but cannot accept or encourage his own son, whom he actually despises, despite the young man's constant attempts to please his father. The other father, terminally ill with cancer, had been estate manager of the vineyard. When his son, who had emigrated and worked for a California winery, returns to visit his dying father, the vineyard owner is so impressed that he attempts to lure the visitor back to France with an impressive job package... including an offer to legally adopt him so that he would share in the inheritance of the vineyard. So now the lines of conflict are neatly in place. One son versus the other. The dying father versus the vineyard owner whom he believes is trying to "steal" away his son... added to the basic conflict between a demanding father and his thankless son. The characters are skillfully drawn and flawlessly acted by a marvelous cast of French players. I thought the direction and photography were superb; you will also learn a lot about the art of growing grapes and producing fine French wines.
cestmoi
The lead is a distinctive actor with all the subtlety of the script in this role. The poor beleaguered son is so unsure of his place in the world that his masochism in remaining in his father's universe is barely believable...though his behavior begs for more beatings of a psychological kind. The loyal wife of the junior loves him for reasons unknown to the viewer; under the sheets, perhaps? The once (1960-70) disco scene is resurrected here to hardly any purpose. The manager of the vineyard, dying of cancer, gets the best draw of script which he fulfills with professionalism and dignity, and his practical and loyal wife plays her role beautifully. As to the prodigal would be son, an insensitive cad and gainer well played here. The logic of the script is minimal and the resolution more abrupt and fevered than what precedes it logically allows. Beautiful shots of the vineyard. All in all, this vintage is pas mal but no chapeau.
richard-1787
I found this movie aggravating. The head of a French vineyard constantly belittles his son - near the end, we find out that it is at least in part because the father lost his wife in part because of his son's ill health. The father eventually favors the son of his foreman. But the son is not presented in a sympathetic way, and though his situation is unfair, we never get a chance to really feel for him.The acting is all fine, and some of the shots of Provence are wonderful. There were the makings here of a much better movie, but that would have required rethinking the script, and therefore probably finding a better director.----------------------------I watched this movie again this evening, and that gave me no reason to improve my previous opinion of it. The only reason this movie works at all is because the lead, Niels Arestrup, has so much charisma, that you remain interested in his thoroughly disagreeable character despite his many flaws; had a less charismatic actor played the role, the character would have been so hard to stomach that I doubt anyone would have sat through the movie.On the other hand, Lorànt Deutsch, who plays his son, comes across as having no charisma whatsoever. (What makes his extremely attractive and intelligent wife stay with him the movie never begins to make clear.) As a result, it is very hard to feel sorry for him, even through his father treats him like dirt for no good reason.This is just a dissatisfying movie. A shame, because there were the makings of an interesting story here.
