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Film review

'A Good Year' adds contrast to Crowe

The actor leaves behind his rough and tumble image to play a romantic role.

By Steve Persall
Published November 9, 2006

Russell Crowe needed a vacation after reaching out and touching someone with a telephone got him arrested for assault. What better place to rehab your temper than the peaceful splendor of France's wine country?

Might as well make a movie while you're there.

A Good Year is a lighter choice than usual for the rugged actor and for Ridley Scott, who directed Crowe to an Oscar in Gladiator. 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.

Crowe plays Max Skinner, a London stock trader who risks investigation for manipulating prices to earn a fortune. Max gloats, then returns home to news that his beloved uncle Henry Albert Finney in flashbacks has died.

Max was last happy as a child on a summer visit to Henry's vineyard and chateau. Scott begins A Good Year with an excellent sequence between Finney and Freddy Highmore (Finding Neverland) as young Max. We immediately learn the intimate appeal of winemaking and its parallels to human nature. We also get the lay of the gorgeous land and Henry's romantically decaying home.

As Henry's only known survivor, Max inherits the place. He plans to sell it - and his memories - for a handsome sum.

That doesn't sit well with Francis Duflot (Didier Bourdon), the vineyard's longtime caretaker and practically Henry's son. Word of an impending deal quickly spreads to the village, where Henry was a local celebrity. Sultry bistro server Fanny Chenal (the ravishing Marion Cotillard) is the most irritated, but she still enchants Max.

Then it gets more complicated with the arrival of Christie Roberts (Abbie Cornish), an American who also intrigues Max until she informs him that Henry was her biological father. Henry's spirit and Fanny's spunk already had Max reconsidering the sale. Now he may not get the girl or the grapes.

Crowe easily handles Max's caustic moments with a smarmy jaunt. He has good reason to soften in France, where screenwriter Marc Klein gives Francis and Fanny withering lines of provincial wisdom to put Max in his place. Christie is almost one too many ingredients. The arrival of Max's lawyer (Rafe Spall) as another love interest certainly is.

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. And not once does Crowe stomp on the grapes.

Steve Persall can be reached at (727) 893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com.

Review

A Good Year

Grade: B+

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard, Didier Bourdon, Abbie Cornish, Freddie Highmore, Archie Panjabi, Isabelle Candelier, Rafe Spall

Screenplay: Marc Klein, based on the novel by Peter Mayle

Rating: PG-13; profanity, sexual situations

Running time: 118 min.

[Last modified November 8, 2006, 09:21:29]