a good year starring russell crowe, marion cotillard, and abbie cornish
written by marc klein (screenplay), peter mayle (novel)
directed by ridley scott
forget paris. take me to provence.
i've never visited france but in my mind provence is what i imagine to be the essence of france. paris has the glitz and glamour of the fashion industry but the heart and soul clearly lives in provence--country roads lined with plane trees, streams of cyclists, and acres of sprawling vineyards. it sounds perfect.
fantastic story albeit slightly cliche but sometimes one needs the predictable.
the best story line in the movie is max's (played by russell crowe) memory of being a young boy (young max is played by the charming freddie highmore) in his uncle's house on the vineyard. it took me back to memories of summers spent in our lakehouse when my maternal grandparents were still living. at that young age, grandparents and, in max's case, uncles, are the coolest teachers because we didn't even realize we were being taught but we'd jump at any opportunity to spend time with them.
filmed in provence, the movie shows a bit of the lovely french scenery and now i'm completely infatuated with the area. i think i'd move there in a minute. perhaps a visit should come first and, for pete's sake, i haven't spoken a lick of french since high school and even that would be stretching it.
