Lorna Irvine finds the French film to be 'smart, pacy and steeped in dry humour'.
Never mind the grapes of wrath, this is all about the gripes, grapes and wrath. Gilles Legrand's moral drama could very easily stray into melodramatic territory, but is so smart, pacy and steeped in dry humour that it's impossible to resist.
Paul de Marsault (Niels Arestrop) is a wine producer with an exceptional nose for the best wines and perfumes, but who is not above trampling on people's feelings as with his vineyard grapes.When his friend and work colleague Francois (Patrick Chesnais) is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Paul decides to take on Francois' son, attractive, assertive Philippe (Nicolas Bridet) as partner in the business rather than leave the position to his own flesh and blood, shy and downtrodden Martin (an excellent, vulnerable Lorant Deutsch) who he regards as a complete waste of space- treating Philippe like a surrogate son right in front of his supposed best friend, not even dead yet! Arestrop's portrayal is superb- Paul is a classic monstrous chauvinist in the tradition of Richard Harris or Gerard Depardieu, all arrogant swagger and scoffing.
As the complex father/son relationships unfurl ,the cinematography sparkles like vintage Chardonnay, sunnily tempering the potentially dark subject matter.Sure, it's a little OTT, but fabulous fun. Nobody does brooding, lies and professional rivalry quite like the French.
Formidable.
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