This month in this section, Signé Vignerons presents the Top 5 in wine and film. Signé Vignerons presents Fricote Now Showing.
It is autumn: we’re clinging to our creature comforts, searching for some semblance of solace.
Such a climate lends itself to wine tasting at home… an intimate dinner where, for lack of news, the topic of film is sure to come up.
If you’re looking for a bit of colour in this gloomy atmosphere, we suggest red: the red of a glass of wine, the red décor of our favourite cinema.
This week, Signé Vignerons is acting as film critic with its Top 5 wine-related films.
Seeing and drinking are on the menu: we open a nice bottle of wine, the lights go out… Enjoy the show!
Best documentary: Mondovino (2003)
Documentary film on the context of globalisation. “Wine is dead”, long live wine. From Florence to Burgundy and California, in search of the secret to surviving in a changing world…
Quite a serious film where you see growers take on industry, the daily life of our beloved winemakers.
Best 4-star cast: A Good Year (2007)
A lighter one where you see Russell Crowe as a “wolf” of finance whose favourite uncle’s inheritance catches up with him. From the City to the Lubéron, he rediscovers (and us with him) his zest for life. A fairly silly journey but not without its charm, graced with an encounter with Marion Cotillard.
Sweetest road trip film: Sideways (2004)
Mid-life crisis on the agenda in this zany American comedy. On a wine trail in California, two friends – one an unsuccessful writer, the other about to get married – try to find a little levity in a world of ruffians. After much wine-tasting and inebriated thanks to a sommelier and waitress, they are tempted to disappear forever in this little paradise.
Most intense: Tu Seras Mon Fils (2011)
Our favourite. “You Will Be My Son” is the story of a relationship between a tyrannical father (Niels Arestrup) and his son (Lorànt Deutsch), who he sees as unworthy of taking over the family farm. A Saint-Emilion estate serves as the backdrop for a family drama that is further complicated by the arrival of the manager’s son who claims to be the ideal person for the job.
Cheesiest: A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
Keanu Reeves, back after the war, commits to a new mission when he meets a pregnant girl on the bus. To protect her from her father, a despotic winemaker, he plays the role of (ideal) son-in-law before feelings come into the equation in the middle of the family estate. This ultra-romantic comedy in a wine-growing setting appeals to our sentimental side; it is hard not to be moved.
