07-03-24 A Good Year (2006)

Seen: March 15th, 2007
Format: DVD
Rating: 7

I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott. I'll admit he's done some films that aren't that great, and that the quality of his work may have deteriorated a little over the last few decades. But I'll still watch anything he makes, and generally be rewarded by my loyalty.

Scott seems to vary his films. We've got large productions like Gladiator, Blade Runner and Black Hawn Down on one side and films like Matchstick Men and Thelma & Louise on the other. Scott seems to take the opportunity with these "smaller" films to explore humanity with a smaller lens, to focus on character and the forces of change in small scopes instead of the change the world variety.

A Good Year falls firmly in this latter camp.

It's easy to dismiss this film as simple romantic comedy. It's easy to enjoy it only on its surface. The characters are broad and reasonably interesting, their arcs not too complex. There is romance, conflict begot of personal mores, and the eventually satisfying, if not predictable conclusion. It's not a complicated story.

But there may be a little bit more...

It's also a tale of a man re-discovering his childhood. Of re-discovering the goodness of things he's left behind. In his mind, he's matured beyond the things his uncle values. He's grown up and views his uncle as an idiosyncratic sybarite. He leaves all those childhood moments behind, works and excels in a high-pressure world where money is merely used to keep score.

Provence is his childhood. On returning here Max is re-immersed in that world he so took for granted. As a child he was spoiled, provided opportunities that he is, even now, unaware of the magnitude. He has taken for granted simple things during his childhood, dismissing them as inconsequential in his adulthood. The film is about his re-discovery of these things and a new found appreciation for them, and his eventual re-prioritization of his life based on them.

A Good Year is perhaps autobiographical. We know that Scott owns property in Provence, and that he suggested the story which lead to the book, which he re-made into the film he saw when he suggested it in the first place. It's not a difficult stretch to imagine that Max's journey parallels on some ways Scott's own. Perhaps it's this personal aspect of the film which makes it less appealing to some.

And very appealing to those who identify with it.

The Good: Albert Finney and Freddie Highmore; excellence at both ends of the spectrum.

The Bad: A pat tale of redemption.

The Ugly: Lavender's multiple uses.