What is Important in Life? Russell Crowe finds out in A Good Year

Like a nice glass of wine, Ridley Scott's A Good Year must be savored and sipped to be appreciated, and not rushed or gulped. A Good Year is a slow moving but ultimately satisfying film about the things that truly matter in life.

The film begins in flashback with a young Max (Freddy Highmore Charlie and the Choclate Factory) having the time of his life on his Uncle Henry's vineyard in Provence, France. Henry teaches him about things that are important, and Max appears to be enjoying his idllyic childhood.

When we first meet Max Skinner as an adult (played by Russell Crowe) he is an aggressive powerful stock broker in London. You know if he keeps up with this lifestyle he will be like Gordon Gekko in Wall Street one day. Max makes millions for his firm, and isn't afraid to use dirty tricks to get them. One day he gets a letter, his Uncle Henry has died. Max hadn't seen his uncle in ages, and is so wrapped up in his work that he doesn't even want to go to France to tend to selling the vineyard and getting back to his life, but he does.

Soon, Max is working on cleaning up the huge house and accompanying vineyards and getting it ready for sale. However, as he does, he begins to reflect on his childhood. Many of the films poignant moments are between young Max, well played by Freddy Highmore and his Uncle Henry played wonderfully by Albert Finney. Provence is as much of a character in this film as any person as well. The lush cinematography of the absolutely beautiful vineyard and home, and the nearby villages make this as much a travelogue for the area as Diane Lane's Under the Tuscan Sun did for Italy. Perhaps more because I enjoyed this film. My son and I watched the film and wondered why any one would want to sell the charming rustic home surrounded by sun and vegetation. Just visually, this film is a treat to watch.

To keep the film moving, Max falls for a local girl who is a waitress, Fanny Chanel (Marion Cotillard) at a busy restaurant. She of course, hates him, because he ran her off the road while she was riding his bicycle. However, Cotillard captures an almost ideal French beauty and makes the love story fun to watch. In the meantime Max also has to keep in touch with his London office, keep his job, and keep things from falling apart there. Further complicating things is the arrival of an American girl, Abbie (Christie Roberts), who says she is the illegitimate daughter of Henry, which would make her the heir. The vineyards caretaker also isn't happy about Max's plans to sell the vineyard after he has spent twenty plus years there.

The real story here isn't the love story though, it isn't the office drama, it isn't who inherits. This story is man v. himself. Crowe's character has become an egocentric greedy man, and returning to his childhood home, he finds he has lost many values along the way. Everywhere he looks on the vineyard, he traces these values back and rediscovers what things really matter in life. It is in watching this story unfold that the film is the most satisfying.

The film does move slowly, but to be fair, I don't think the real underlying story would be served if it moved rapid fire. The lessons here are of the sort to be contemplated and then savored much like a fine glass of wine. It reminded me in some ways of Miike's brilliant film The Bird People of China in which a man makes a similar epiphany about what is truly important in life.

My only complaint is that Russell Crowe is a little too stiff in his portrayal of Max Skinner. It seemed to me that the point of the film was his losing that stiff rigid attitude as he reached his epiphany. Although the story expresses this, Crowe's characterization doesn't always bely the actions of a man who has made this transition. I especially enjoyed the flashbacks with Freddy Highmore and Albert Finney, they really brought a lot to this film.

Overall, the film was beautiful to watch, and the underlying message was powerfully done. I felt good watching the film, and although it may have fallen a bit short of five stars, certainly deserves four.