Failed London banker Max Skinner inherits his uncle's vineyard in Provence, where he spent many childhood holidays. Upon his arrival, he meets a woman from California who tells Max she is his long-lost cousin and that the property is hers.
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This film is truly my favorite. When I feel lost or disconnected with my aspirational self, this film is the one I turn to. It's filled with many European qualities - qualities of thoughtfulness, empathy and complex simplicity as well as the aesthetic architecture. I highly recommend this for the light-hearted, happy-mongering individual.
The scenes where Crowe tried his hand at slapstick were horrible. For example, when he falls into the empty, dirt-filled, swimming pool, the story turned from tedious to utterly laughable and moronic. Crowe tries getting out the 15' deep pool by launching himself at the pool wall. Suddenly a beautiful but obnoxious woman comes along, throws his car keys at him and asks Crowe if he can swim. He says, "Yes, but not in a foot of cow shit!" The woman proceeds to turn on the water to fill the pool and walks away. Of course (facetious) the water worked perfectly after not being used in years, and the spray is as forceful as a firehose. Instead of moving aside, Crowe stands in the way of the jets and flails around while being pummeled by the spray. While the pool is filling, Crowe dives underwater, spitting out the "cowshit" pool water as if he's enjoying himself and at one point surfaces with tennis balls on his eyes. Did I turn it off at that point? No, stupid me! Crowe decides he's going to clean the house in 72 hours to show it to potential buyers. The only help he has, his winemaker, and an elderly, frail, gentleman with a broken foot. That's when I turned it off!
Enjoyable feel good picture. This movie gives you a nostalgic and warm feeling. Russel Crowe plays a successful man in a hectic modern world. The death of a near relative leaves him with a vineyard i France. When he arrives to the vineyard estate many childhood memories starts a necessary inner process he hasn't dealt with yet. Marion Cotillard plays a local french waitress and a humorous romance starts between them. An overall neutral movie for those who just like to watch an easy going movie that leaves you with a small warm feeling and a small smile on your face.
A really, really rich investment banker is faced with the choice of remaining a really, really rich investment banker or rejecting that life in order to become a merely really rich wine grower in the south of France. This is presented as an existential crisis. Other than that ridiculous premise, it's an entertaining film.
