The Vintner's Luck

Having read the novel by Elizabeth Knox I had high hopes for the film. I bought the DVD and when I got round to the viewing I was impressed by Niki Caro's rendition. The movie was beautifully crafted from start to finish with the exception of the wasted screen time establishing the landscape. Too much screen time was dedicated to the albeit beautiful French/New Zealand landscape. The casting was perfect, each of the protagonists had a part to play romantically to Sobran Jodeau. Celeste (Keisha Castle Hughes) was the physical, the Baroness (Vera Farmiga) being Intelletual and Xas (Gaspard Ulliel) the spiritual. One factor I found disappointing was the relationship between Sobran and Xas in the novel played a significant role in influencing the fruition of Sobran's dreams to create a wine never tasted, yet in the film the relationship seemed downplayed. Which is a shame because it seemed like the film missed something which would have brought justice to the novel. However I definitely think that this movie is a gem which touches on a mythical theme not explored in the film Industry. The introduction of the angel Xas seemed very believable and I believe Niki managed to bring to life Elizabeth Knox's story of a vintner and his angel to life.

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 proved 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 château owned by Comte de Vully (Patrice Valota). Sobran falls in love with another peasant, Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes) despite the warning's about Celeste's mad father Sobran's father (Vania Vilers) claims Sobran will be doomed. Sobran longs to have his own vineyard and to make his own wine and one evening an angel (Gaspard Ulliel) appears to Sobran and encourages him to marry Celeste and begin his own vines and to meet the angel again in a year's time. A year later Sobran again meets his angel and reports he is not only married but that Celeste is pregnant. The angel encourages him to bravely begin his own vineyard. Sobran's goal is interrupted crop failure and by his going off to fight in Napoleon's war. He returns to the demise of Comte de Vully and the takeover of the Château by the counts niece, the beautiful Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga). Though Sobran and Aurora represent different classes they join together to make their dream of the perfect wine come true and there is a physical attraction that is consummated despite Sobran's commitment to his wife and children. Sobran meets his angel again and we sense the angel and Sobran are in love but a confession on the part of the angel creates a schism and form there the fortune of Sobran begins to dwindle until the resurgence of hope at the end: Sibran, Aurora, and Celestehave aged and Sobran's children are mature. The secrets of Sobran's heavenly vintage are revealed at last. 'A Heavenly Vintage is a beautiful and sensual tale about what it takes to create the perfect vintage.'

Jérémie Renier, Gaspard Ulliel and Vera Farmiga offer stunning performances but even they are unable to make the story memorable. Given those involved form the top to the bottom of this production it is difficult to understand why it does eventually work. But perhaps that is the fault of the novelist Elizabeth Knox. The film is worth for the actors and the stunning costumes and décor.

Grady Harp

Didn't know about a book, had no expectations. Surprised by supernatural element involving an angel. Being impatient, the slow moving pace left me wanting, but I stuck through because I liked the strength of the actors, especially the lead. Glad I did by the end. Was ambivalent about the many allegories about wine making and life spoken by the angel, but eventually these ideas did became more than words. Betrayal, reconciliation, the many shades of love and loss. Eventually you understand.

Didn't like the dark color palette in the beginning, but was impressed by the authenticity of the dirt and grunge of the peasant laborers. Much like the Game of Thrones franchise in that way. And when the lead becomes richer by his Wine taking risks, the velvet brocade and ruby wine bedazzles the scene like darkly gorgeous vintage. Very pleasing.

The film is odd because it seems to have a Christian spiritual feel, yet it is decidedly gray area rather than black and white. It is even hedonistic, existentialist and atheistic, while also speaking about heaven and hell in a manner reminiscent of how Frankenstein's monster spoke with his creator in Mary Shelley's violent and philosophical book. Where "Frankenstein" is violent though "A Heavenly Vintage" is intensely erotic in a way that is sometimes like violence except sublimated into passion. The slow burn nature of "A Heavenly Vintage" coupled with its underlying eroticism (and sometimes homoeroticism) is mysteriously affecting, even while being an oddly uplifting tale based in an extraordinary humanism.

It's 19th century France. Sobran Jodeau is a peasant working for a château winemaker. He wants to make more than peasant wine. During one drunken night, he is rescued by angel Xas who offers him special seeds in exchange for meeting him one night every year for the rest of his life. Sobran marries Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and starts a family. The Chateau's Baroness Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga) returns from Paris. It's a fable of love, passion, and wine.

Niki Caro, who wrote and directed 'Whale Rider', has created a melodrama about French vine during the Napoleanic age. It's a bit of a grind. It's long and melodramatic like an old romance novel. It does go off in unexpected directions. The passion for the vines do come through the screen. Jérémie Renier has a shiftiness that is unappealing and distracts from the assumed passion from Sobran. His European accent don't match either Vera or Keisha. Keisha is underused and is no more than a face. Another lead could tie the whole movie together. This movie struggles to find solid ground but I do like the wine making.

Disclaimer: I have not read the Elizabeth Knox book Nikki Caro's film The Vintner's Luck is based on so can not make a comparison - which given that films are not books, might be a good thing. Films are creations with their own forces. Nikki Caro did not engage in the arduous process of making a film simply to channel Knox or to realize Knox on screen. She is here to create her own vision. This is what all artists do.

It is rather ironic that at the same time Vintner's Luck is undergoing a national reaming in New Zealand we are also attacking Witi Ihimaera's so-called plagiarism. And yet when Nikki Caro dares to bring her own vision to the screen she is lambasted for not plagiarizing enough.

Her film is layered and complex as any story of a relationship between an angel and a man would be, even more so as the film is grappling with bigger issues of morality and mortality.

If Nikki is guilty of anything it is her attempt to make the Knox novel comprehensible and accessible to a wide audience. To cynics like me who find the idea of fleshy angels simply silly, the film balances that feathery conundrum perfectly. Especially as it seems that all the criticism revolves around this one thing – the intangible and problematic issue of man and angels. It's a relationship portrayed in art from earliest times. And it's intensely personal; especially for Knox fans - who it seems - will be satisfied by nothing less than full-on feather sex. Is it the thwarting of their inner voyeurs that has unleashed this storm? In fact by not staying too close to the Knox book, by in some ways separating the angel and the man and allowing the man to form an (albeit conflicted) bond with an earth bound woman the angelic relationship becomes more believable, more symbolic of our human struggle with desire. And that's something I can understand: after all, are we not all in lifelong relationships with our angels as we grapple with the sensual, the sacred and the profane in search of our perfect vintage? Don't be put of by the jaundiced reviews in New Zealand: Vintner's Luck, the movie, is strong wine for developed palettes. This is one vintage you will not want to miss, whether or not you believe in angels. Sumner Burstyn, NZ, sumnerburstyn@gmail.com