A Heavenly Vintage

"A Heavenly Vintage" is indeed a vintage movie!
I won't go into details describing what the storyline is about, as former reviews have done so well. I come from a place of not having read the book - possibly to my benefit. (books always present more detail and depth than a movie can do) I was mesmerized by this movie, it's characters imprinted upon me so deeply and in a memorably moving story of vision and desire, love, friendship, risk, struggle, failure and success. Sobran Jodeau, who reflected the creative desires and challenges of humanity, and his angel (I would want my angel to look like that! - especially those knowing, wanting, compassionate eyes) who had made the decision to experience humanity himself - as he explained at one point, there isn't only heaven or hell, but an in between place and he wanted to experience both. I adored the angel as much as I did Sobran.

My heart swelled and ached for the human experience in this story. I admit that at the end of the movie, I had a good cleansing cry of...

The Hero's Journey
Niki Caro's film A Heavenly Vintage is an archetypal masterpiece. Its 19th century setting is the beautiful wine country of France. The hero, Sobran Jodeau, is a peasant whose father owns their land and vineyard but in order to survive, Jodeau must sell his grapes to the aristocrat Comte de Vully. The people depend upon the land to survive. They have no way to escape from their situation. Where would they go and what would they do? Nature is a fickle Mother. She gives and she takes life according to her cycles. The old have accepted their lot. The young, who have been infected with the freedom of the Enlightenment of revolutionary thought, can dream of change. Sobran's dream is of making his own wine, a very fine wine, one which will carry him and his family out of poverty.

Like most of us in the 21st century, who have the illusion of being liberated and work like slaves to make enough money to pay our mortgages and car loans to the Ultimate Landlords, the Banks,...

A Period Piece with Stunning Actors
HEAVENLY VINTAGE (aka THE VINTNER'S LUCK) is a somewhat perplexing film. Based on a novel by Elizabeth Knox and adapted for the screen by Joan Scheckel and writer/director Niki Caro it comes across as a patchwork quilt - many fine story lines that don't seem to fit together into a grand whole. Niki Caro has some fine films in her resume - The Whale Ride, North Country, Memory & Desire - so she has proven that she knows her craft. She is supported by an astonishingly fine group of actors, a sensitive cinematographer (Denis Lenoir) and one of the best teams of costume designers (Justin Buckingham and Harry Harrison) and music composer Antonio Pinto, yet the story never becomes airbourne - and that is a particularly important factor in this film.

The year is 1815 and Sobran Jodeau (Jérémie Renier in yet another brilliant performance) is a peasant winemaker working or a chateau owned by Comte de Vully (Patrice Valota). Sobran falls in love with another peasant,...

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