A Good Year

Name: A Good Year
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: November 10, 2006
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 47
Cast: Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard, Russell Crowe

2006

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 105 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 105 Ratings

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A Good Year

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Movie Details & Credits

Fox 2000 Pictures | Release Date: November 10, 2006 | PG-13

Starring: Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard, Russell Crowe

Summary: Based on the novel by Peter Mayle, this is the story of an Englishman (Crowe) who suddenly finds himself the owner of a small vineyard in Provence.

Director: Ridley Scott

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

James Berardinelli

Gorgeous photography and strong acting keep the formula from becoming stale. For those who don't mind pictures that fall into predictable rhythms, A Good Year represents a pleasant diversion. Read full review

William Arnold

It's an art-house genre piece, very much in the tradition of "Enchanted April," "Shirley Valentine" and "Under the Tuscan Sun." But, a few charming scenes aside, A Good Year is in the hands of the wrong star and wrong director. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

Broad, hackneyed and stultifyingly predictable. Read full review

Carrie Rickey

The overall effect is one of a sumptuously laid table where the main course is overcooked. Read full review

Scott Tobias

Though he invests every ounce of his considerable charisma in the lead role, Russell Crowe still comes across as a man unworthy of the paradise offered to him. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Nothing more than a bad harvest. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

There isn't a milliliter of honest feeling from start to finish, and precious little comedy or romance.

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User Reviews

AnneB.

Apr 3, 2008

I love this movie. I don't know why the critics didn't like it. If you have ever been to Provence this movie gives you a real taste of what it's like. Not to mention, it's a great story about how there is more to life than money. I really enjoyed it.

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BethG.

Jun 7, 2007

Absolutely brilliant. Russell Crowe is incredible. The whole story is interesting, funny, romantic, and entertaining. I loved it.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

EdwardL

Oct 17, 2009

This is one of my favorite romantic comedies.

2 of 3 users found this helpful

aurora1

Dec 18, 2021

One of the most remarkable things in "A Good Year" is the music written by Marc Streitenfeld, an ethereal and melancholic instrumental piece that adds a fascinating depth to an otherwise formulaic and predictable movie. Mind you: predictable, but not boring. Just as a scrumptious frenchOne of the most remarkable things in "A Good Year" is the music written by Marc Streitenfeld, an ethereal and melancholic instrumental piece that adds a fascinating depth to an otherwise formulaic and predictable movie. Mind you: predictable, but not boring. Just as a scrumptious french cake, layers and layers of exquisite ingredients work their way into building an hymn to the joy de vivre, the pleasure for the little things and what is most important in life, which is life itself. Among those ingredients, a charming and flawless Russell Crowe, an adorable Marion Cotillard and Albert Finney in the role of a cheeky old uncle, whose wisdom resonates from the past in beautifully crafted flashbacks. A sour note is the bit when the vine grower explains to his wife how, later in the night, she's gonna get the meaning of the word "sodomite": just an unnecessary heavy handed piece of dialogue in a picture that wanted to be romantic and immersed in light; that only lowered the mark quite a bit.… Expand

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FilmClub

Mar 27, 2016

A light rose from Ridley Scott compared to the hefty cabernets he usually turns out, “A Good Year” is a divertissement, an excuse for the filmmakers and cast to enjoy a couple of months in Provence and for the audience, by proxy, to spend a couple of hours there.

Story of a rapaciousA light rose from Ridley Scott compared to the hefty cabernets he usually turns out, “A Good Year” is a divertissement, an excuse for the filmmakers and cast to enjoy a couple of months in Provence and for the audience, by proxy, to spend a couple of hours there.

Story of a rapacious London bonds trader tempted to opt out of the fast lane for life at an inherited chateau is more than a bit self-referential for both Scott and the source book’s author, Peter Mayle. The two worked together in the advertising and commercials world 30 years ago, with Mayle eventually giving it up to write books, beginning with the massively successful “A Year in Provence” in 1991. Scott also has a home and vineyard in the area.

So when the allure of the simple life is expressed here, it is only on the most fantastic terms, with the best wine, food, views and women already in place for instantaneous consumption. As a real-life fantasy it’s hard to beat; as a film, it’s an agreeable slice of lifestyles-of-the-rich voyeurism.

After a brief prologue devoted to conceited British boy Max (Freddie Highmore) being indoctrinated in the finer points of wine by his life-lusting Uncle Henry (Albert Finney) at the latter’s estate in the south of France, Max (Russell Crowe) enters as an even more self-satisfied adult on the trading floor, finessing a fantastic profit in one session that raises the ire of his rivals.

Notified that his uncle has died and left him the chateau, he flies down to wrap up the paperwork to facilitate a quick sale of the property, which promises to net Max another small fortune. Heedless of the feelings of his uncle’s longtime winemaker Francis (Didier Bourdon) and the latter’s wife, Ludivine (Isabelle Candelier), Max cares about nothing but money and winning, and while in France relishes driving past a bunch of bicyclists and yelling gleefully at them “Lance Armstrong!”

Given that the estate’s little dog is named Tati and that clips from “M. Hulot’s Holiday” and “Mon Oncle” are glimpsed at one point, it’s safe to assume Scott admires the great French comic filmmaker Jacques Tati. Along those lines, Crowe takes quite a few pratfalls in the course of the film, including one into a waterless swimming pool with walls too high to climb up, a predicament that allows him to begin his sparring match with lovely local restaurant owner Fanny (Marion Cotillard), who’s sworn off men.

But in a story like this, it can only be a woman who makes the blind man see the light. And so it is when Max and Fanny, two young but hard souls — who, they figure out, once met as children on the land — finally come together in an endearing breakthrough scene extremely well played by Crowe and Cotillard. For a moment, pic approaches a level of genuine intoxication.

Rather than for its more rambunctious physicality, pic is often more appealing in its throwaway asides, such as the one in the pool when a filthy Max mincingly mutters the famous lines from “Lawrence of Arabia” about why Lawrence likes the desert: “It’s clean. I like it because it’s clean.”

His hair smoothed and straightened into something like a 1920s look, and outfitted with glasses much of the time, Crowe executes a lightweight change of pace with his charisma entirely intact, even if he still hasn’t mastered an English accent that fits comfortably with Finney’s or Highmore’s. There are moments when the enchanting Cotillard resembles a Gallic, dark-haired Reese Witherspoon, and Aussie thesp Cornish, in her first Hollywood film, continues her quick ascent with a perfect Yank accent and a nice note of observant reserve.

The setting could hardly be made to look less than glorious, and production standards are up to what one expects from a Scott picture. All the same, lensing is not as resplendent as it might have been; numerous shots sharing bright and dark areas aren’t well balanced, and faces are sometimes underlit. The soundtrack, fleshed out with an eclectic array of tunes, is lively.… Expand

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MikeP.

Nov 22, 2006

Fantastic old Europe scenery, the characters beautiful, and the screenplay pathetic.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

Sidiot

Nov 12, 2006

Dull and boring = prosaic.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

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