Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Fantasy time mixed with Peter Mayle.  In Provence.  Where else?  I won’t even begin to explain about the plot which involves a highly successful orphan stockbroker (Russell Crowe) inheriting his uncle’s (Albert Finney) idyllic chateau and vineyard in Provence and how the past all comes flooding back to reaccommodate the present.  This is fluff and dreams and the cobbled together plot and largely over-the-top characters all confirm this.  The film is watchable enough but completely unrigorous in its direction and scripting and therefore rather a surprise for us being by Ridley Scott.  Russell Crowe is forgettable enough.  What is left for us are some beautifully lit scenes of French countryside and the appearances of Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi in a small role and the luminous new find Marion Cotillard as the love interest.  This role, so different from what we saw in Piaf recently marks her out as a star.

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