The critics had a good shot at putting people off this movie since it was not the sort of wham-bam high-action cooperation that is normal for director Ridley Scott and favourite actor Russell Crowe, but come the day it was a fine, enjoyable, and totally likeable film. Based on the Peter Mayle novel of life in Provence, Crowe is first shown as a 'master of the universe' City type without a care for anything bar ruthless business, who learns that his uncle whom he has not seen for many years has just died and left him his estate in France, his chateau, his vineyard. Crowe had just about forgotten the idyllic summers he spent there as a child (as portrayed by the winsome Freddie Highmore) with roguish uncle Albert Finney. So Crowe takes himself off to Provence to settle the estate, sell the dump as quickly as possible, and return to his ruthless stocktrading life.
However this movie is meant to be a gentle comedy, and while one does not normally associate Crowe with comedic roles, he does in fact -- being a good actor if not necessarily a charming one -- make a good stab at it. He "meets cute" with local cafe owner Marion Cotillard in non-Piaf mode in an explosive Ridley Scott way when he accidentally runs her bike off the road while he is gabbing on his phone and she retaliates by nearly drowning him while he is stuck in a deep unused swimming pool. Things do however look up from there and we watch the attraction between them grow. The rest of the cast including his vicious City staff, the old retainers on the estate, Tom Holland as his greedy estate agent friend, and Abbie Cornish as a would-be American cousin all do their part to make this an unexpectedly pleasant watch. Don't believe the critics: this movie definitely has its moments and comes as a charming aside in the Scott-Crowe canon.
1 comment:
Crowe seemed more at home in the vineyard than he did in the City but he was,
as expected, out-acted by Albert Finney. This is not unusual as the latter has
become one of the 'must watch' performers of our time. Having said that, Crowe
did a good job and the support he received was first class.
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