morrison-dylan-fan Getting the internet back on at home after 2 days of the server crashing,I decided to take a look at the movies listed on BBC iPlayer.Getting near the end of the list,I noticed a splendid looking,dark French Drama,which led to me getting ready to find out what vintage the film is.The plot:After running the family vineyard for decades, Paul de Marseul starts to become aware that some point soon he will have to pass the Marseul legacy over to the next generation:his son Martin.Whilst past generations have made the transitions go smoothly,Paul is only able to look at Martin with pure hatred,as Paul treats his son to constant bullying,which includes blaming him for the death of their wife/mum,and Martin being unable to get his girlfriend pregnant. Learning that his dad (and friend of Martin) François Amelot is struggling in his battle with cancer, Philippe Amelot decides to go and support his dad.Meeting Philippe,Paul is thrilled to find that Philippe has all the qualities Martin lacks.Suspecting that François is near death (what a friend!) Paul starts making plans to hang a new son on the vineyards.View on the film:Sweeping over the vineyards,co-writer/(along with Laure Gasparotto & Delphine de Vigan) director Gilles Legrand and cinematographer Yves Angelo unwrap the darkness decaying the heart of the Marseul family.Taking inspiration from Film Noir sheen, Legrand and Angelo paint the wine in a golden ruby,which masks the rot setting in at the centre,which Legrand superbly unveils by transforming the Marseul's wine vault into a Gothic Horror crypt,where the bitter anger consuming Paul is allowed to ferment.While the way Paul treats Martin is extremely harsh,the screenplay by Legrand/ Gasparotto and Vigan make each sharp line of dialogue land with a real punch,due to the writers cleverly using Paul's viciousness to place him in a deadly corner. Giving Paul a "warm uncle" shine,the writers wonderfully send Paul down an unforgiving Film Noir loner path lit up by Paul isolating himself by hurling snarling swipes at all who stand in his way,until Paul is left as a monster in his self-imposed den.Soaked in buckets of misery, Lorànt Deutsch gives a thrilling performance as Martin,whose bruised knuckles Deutsch digs deep into,whilst dapper Nicolas Bridet makes Philippe look like he is walking on water with his savvy charms.Stomping down on the grapes, Niels Arestrup gives a thunderous performance as Paul,thanks to Arestrup joyfully burning Paul's cuddly side and digging up the pure Film Noir cruelty,in a movie which should be watched through the grapevines.

paul2001sw-1 There's a grim tale well-told in 'You Will be My Son': that of an egotistical wine-maker whose love of his craft exceeds that for his son, and to such an extent that he feels under no obligation to hide it. The film pivots around these two points, indulging a sense of love for the craft of traditional wine-making, but portraying the father's behaviour in an utterly unsympathetic light. But the son is a bit too craven to be interesting: he has a mysteriously beautiful wife, and his refusal to leave, and preference to stay around and be bullied instead, is a bit mystifying; ultimately the film perhaps shares with its characters a sense that patrimony is at heart the proper way of the world. The ambiguous ending, however, is well-judged.

philipfoxe Some excellent playing in this film which really works because its French. Some have commented on the character of the son, Martin and that he is an unsympathetic character. In Hollywood, he would have been a lovely doe-eyed sweetie pie, but this is a French movie. A son who has been constantly neglected, abused and criticised by his father is likely to be introverted, resentful and unconfident and so he is. It is to be admired that he is portrayed as flawed and uncharismatic. His loyal and loving wife keeps him going and supports him-without her he would not cope. This film, with more work, money, time etc could have been a classic, but it is still a good reason to value the French film industry.

Sindre Kaspersen French screenwriter, producer and director Gilles Legrand's third feature film which he co-produced and co-wrote with French screenwriter and director Delphine de Vigan, premiered in France, was shot on locations in France and is a French production which was produced by producer Frédéric Brillion. It tells the story about a middle-aged Roman Catholic monarchist named Paul de Marseul who lives on a grand estate in Les Etourneaux in Nice, France where he runs a vineyard. When Paul's long-time collaborator named Francois Amelot learns that he is dying from cancer, Paul's son named Martin who works for him and lives on his estate with his wife named Alice makes himself available to take over Francois' position, but Paul doesn't regard his son that highly and is more concerned with Martin giving him a grandson. Distinctly and precisely directed by French filmmaker Gilles Legrand, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the two main characters' viewpoints, draws an increasingly dramatic portrayal of a seasoned wine maker who was sent away from home as a nine-year-old in the early 1950s to attend a Jesuit boarding school and who was noticed for the first time and trained by his father as a 17-year-old, and his relationship with his only child whom he thinks has a personality which is more compatible to that of his mother than to his. While notable for its distinct, atmospheric and naturalistic milieu depictions, masterful cinematography by French cinematographer and director Yves Angelo, reverent production design by production designer Aline Bonetto, costume design by costume designer Tess Hammami, film editing by film editor Andréa Sedlackova and use of sound, colors and light, this dialog-driven and narrative-driven story about a father's resentment towards his own flesh and blood whom he likes to dictate and taunt, depicts two conflicting and heartrending studies of character and contains a timely and prominent score by composer Armand Amar.This elegiacally atmospheric, sarcastically humorous and densely generational character piece which is set during a summer in France in the 21st century and where a French man named Philippe whom has been living in Chile for the last three years arrives at the Marseul family estate without any other reasons for his visit than to meet his father, and is embraced by his fathers' friend and associate, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, rhythmic continuity, unsentimental dialog, indifferently claiming and disowning comment by Paul : "I'm your father, aren't I", the majestic acting performance by French actor Niels Arestrup and the involving acting performances by French actors Lorànt Deutsch, Nicolas Bridet, Patrick Chesnais and French actress Anne Marivin. An eloquently psychological, commandingly cinematographic and revering narrative feature.