Wine
experts love to talk about how important terroir (the combination of land and
environmental factors) is for Burgundy wines. That makes it very labor and
resource intensive. A prodigal son is only back few days when his estranged
siblings put him to work overseeing the harvest. It is no vacation, but it might
be the distraction from his marital problems that he needs in Cédric Klapisch’s
Back to Burgundy (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
Jean
made it home to Burgundy just in time for a final conversation with his father,
but it was unsatisfyingly one-sided. Due to several misunderstandings, he is
not particularly welcomed by his younger brother Jérémie, but middle sister Juliette
tries to act as peacemaker. She is also the new boss of the family domain, for which
all three now owe over $500,000 in inheritance taxes as the equal co-heirs.
Much
to his surprise, Jean will stay through the harvest to help his siblings settle
the estate business. It is also a way for him to take a time-out from his
increasingly strained marriage, but he still misses his son Alexander dearly. At
least he manages to patch things up with Jérémie and Juliette, to an extent, as
the four distinctive Burgundy seasons pass.
Klapisch
knew wine thanks to his connoisseur father and a stint as a waiter in a fancy
New York restaurant, but the real expert is co-star Jean-Marc Roulot, an actor
and real-life vintner, who plays the domain manager Marcel. He coached Klapisch
and the cast through all the techniques of harvesting and subsequent domain
business, so it is scrupulously realistic from a viticultural perspective.
As
for the drama, that is Klapisch’s specialty. He is one of the best at writing
and helming multi-character dramas that combine romantic and familial
storylines. That might sound straight forward, but if it were so easy,
everybody would be doing it [well]. Rather remarkably, Klapisch managed to film
on-location on Burgundy over all four seasons, which isn’t Boyhood, but still represents an unusual level of commitment.
However, he might have been a little too enamored with the details of
viticulture, because a few subplots are allowed to turn into dead ends, such as
Jean’s flirtation with Lina, an attractive seasonal harvest worker.
Nevertheless,
Burgundy is a very human and
forgiving examination of family and the constant struggles for those whose
livelihood is rooted in the land. Pio Marmaï, Ana Giradot, and François Civil
are all terrific as Jean, Juliette and Jérémie, respectively, totally convincing
us they have years of shared history and resentments together. Roulot is
appealingly down-to-earth and obviously in his element as Marcel, while María
Valverde adds some needed heat and intensity as Alicia.
It
all looks magnifique, thanks to Klapisch’s stylish élan and Alexis Kavyrchine’s
sun-dappled cinematography, which just revels in the Burgundy landscape. Their
efforts certainly will not damper Burgundy’s burgeoning tourism or exploding
real estate market. Recommended for patrons of French cinema and French wine, Back to Burgundy opens this Friday
(3/23) in New York, at the Angelika Film Center and next Friday (3/30) in Queens, at
the Kew Gardens Cinema.
