On a classic framework, Cédric Klapisch serves us an excellent vintage after weaker years.
Twenty years after Un air de famille, adapted from the play by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, he returns to family ties with this subtle look at a generation, imbued with humor and nostalgia, which has made him an iconic director.
A staging dotted with elegant discoveries also knows how to highlight the humor of a situation with mischief. The film teems with hilarious scenes, delightful counterpoints to the melancholy of a childhood slipping away.
Jean left his family and his native Burgundy ten years ago to travel the world. As the son of a winemaker, Jean wanted to get away. He packed his bags and traversed the globe, without giving any news to his sister Juliette and his brother Jérémie for over four years.
Upon learning of his father’s imminent death, he returns to the land of his childhood. He reunites with his sister, Juliette, and his brother, Jérémie. While Juliette is happy to see him again and determined not to let him leave, Jérémie has trouble accepting the return of the prodigal son.
Their father dies just before the start of the grape harvest. For Jean, it’s time to choose: whether or not to invest in the estate and especially to reconnect with Juliette and Jérémie…
Over the course of a year, with the changing seasons, these three young adults will rediscover or reinvent their brotherhood, thriving and maturing alongside the wine they produce.
But the vineyard and organic wine, which had never before been the subject of such well-documented fiction, interest the director less than human relationships.
“Love is like wine, it takes time. It needs to ferment. And it’s not always spoiled in the end,” philosophizes someone at the cellar.
The filmmaker embraces these questions with real finesse and characters who are incredibly endearing, portrayed by Pio Marmaï (Jean), Ana Girardot (Juliette), and François Civil (Jérémie), who are brilliant and wonderfully accurate.
Previously an urban director, Cédric Klapisch sublimates the Burgundian countryside with images that superbly capture these four seasons.
