The Vintner's Luck
Kiwi director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) follows up her well-received Hollwood debut, North Country, with this adaptation of Elizabeth Knox's novel about a peasant winemaker in Napoleon-era, 19th Century France. Stars the great Vera Farmiga (The Departed) and Keisha Castle-Hughes as a foxy salt-of-the-earth peasant girl.
Sobran Jodeau (Jérémie Renier) is an ambitious young peasant winemaker with three loves – his beautiful and passionate wife Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes), the proudly intellectual baroness Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga) and Xas (Gaspard Ulliel), a fallen angel who strikes up an unlikely but enduring friendship. Under the angel's guidance, Sobran is forced to fathom the nature of love, belief and immortality – in pursuit of the perfect vintage.
- Director:
- Niki Caro ('North Country, Whale Rider')
- Writer:
- Niki CaroJoan Scheckel
- Cast:
- Jérémie RenierGaspard UllielVera FarmigaKeisha Castle-Hughes
Reviews & comments
Rod
As bad as! The story does not make any sense! There is nothing to say about the actor's performance were OK, but lacking of emotion with no intense interpretation. The sexualised relationship with the angel was just to crown the rubish. The director perhaps tried to make a combo between City of Angels, Brokeback Montain and Made in Heaven, The best...
Can't wait... have heard so many great things!
Found awesome stuff about the movie!!!! YAY! Can't wait to see it... So psyched! Author: TragedyAmber ..."The casting is almost perfect. Jeremy Renier, Gaspard Ulliel and Vera Farmiga are dead-on as far as appearance and mannerisms, and all do a wonderful job with the parts they play.".... ...Author: Adam001 ...."I was thrilled to hear Niki...
My good this was
painful. The acting was terrible, story was slow, and it seemed to just go on and on. Hughes and Caro are quite possibly the worst to come out of New Zealand since David Bain and John Hawkebury. Honestly do not see this film it is complete crap, god its so boring! And the fact Hughes is pumping out kids and is married is a little bit silly as she appears...
box wine
I haven't read the book, but from seeing this film I would say its dying for a gay relationship to make sense of much of the drama, or lack of it. It feels curiously empty of tasty ideas, trying hard to be profound and ending up watery. The physical encumbrance and pantomime feel of the angel wings are a major mistake, and a completely implausible first...
wrong on so many levels
We almost walked out. Sex scences were, well, vulger and unnecessary. The chemistry between chracters was bizzare and confusing. Castle-Hughes doesn't age and isn't convincing. Too much unexplained. Only highlight would be the baroness who had some depth to her character. People shouldn't put up ratings until they have seen a movie.
Unconvincing
I am really sorry to say this as I was really looking forward to this film. Saw a preview last night and was left feeling very unconvinced. Keisha's character was not aged at all even though her husband aged dramatically through the film. Having read the book previously, I also felt that with all the angst re: the relationship with the angel which was...
Variety
pressNew Zealand writer-director Niki Caro delivers her least impressive vintage with this drearily literal-minded adaptation of "The Vintner's Luck," Elizabeth Knox's novel about a 19th-century French peasant who receives celestial guidance in matters of love and winemaking. It's one of those ambitious grand-summation works -- rooted in the bittersweet truism that life, like wine, grows richer with age -- but not even Caro's earthy, sensuous filmmaking can overcome the tale's glib supernatural conceit, overstated moral lessons and overall dramatic torpor.
New Zealand Herald
pressThe dreary, rambling narrative, the trite theme, the unconscionably long running time combine to make a major disappointment.
Newshub
pressIt was an ambitious project to adapt this tale, and while it’s in no way a failure, it’s certainly not a triumph.
Hollywood Reporter
pressVery silly and incoherent melodrama gets tangled up in the wings of an angel.
Christchurch Press
pressThe Vintner's Luck is good to look at, and a few scenes hint at the film I think the book, and we, deserved. But the rest is a baffling
Variety
pressNew Zealand writer-director Niki Caro delivers her least impressive vintage with this drearily literal-minded adaptation of "The Vintner's Luck," Elizabeth Knox's novel about a 19th-century French peasant who receives celestial guidance in matters of love and winemaking. It's one of those ambitious grand-summation works -- rooted in the bittersweet truism that life, like wine, grows richer with age -- but not even Caro's earthy, sensuous filmmaking can overcome the tale's glib supernatural conceit, overstated moral lessons and overall dramatic torpor.
New Zealand Herald
pressThe dreary, rambling narrative, the trite theme, the unconscionably long running time combine to make a major disappointment.
Newshub
pressIt was an ambitious project to adapt this tale, and while it’s in no way a failure, it’s certainly not a triumph.
Hollywood Reporter
pressVery silly and incoherent melodrama gets tangled up in the wings of an angel.
Christchurch Press
pressThe Vintner's Luck is good to look at, and a few scenes hint at the film I think the book, and we, deserved. But the rest is a baffling
Rod
As bad as! The story does not make any sense! There is nothing to say about the actor's performance were OK, but lacking of emotion with no intense interpretation. The sexualised relationship with the angel was just to crown the rubish. The director perhaps tried to make a combo between City of Angels, Brokeback Montain and Made in Heaven, The best...
Can't wait... have heard so many great things!
Found awesome stuff about the movie!!!! YAY! Can't wait to see it... So psyched! Author: TragedyAmber ..."The casting is almost perfect. Jeremy Renier, Gaspard Ulliel and Vera Farmiga are dead-on as far as appearance and mannerisms, and all do a wonderful job with the parts they play.".... ...Author: Adam001 ...."I was thrilled to hear...
My good this was
painful. The acting was terrible, story was slow, and it seemed to just go on and on. Hughes and Caro are quite possibly the worst to come out of New Zealand since David Bain and John Hawkebury. Honestly do not see this film it is complete crap, god its so boring! And the fact Hughes is pumping out kids and is married is a little bit silly as she appears...
box wine
I haven't read the book, but from seeing this film I would say its dying for a gay relationship to make sense of much of the drama, or lack of it. It feels curiously empty of tasty ideas, trying hard to be profound and ending up watery. The physical encumbrance and pantomime feel of the angel wings are a major mistake, and a completely implausible first...
wrong on so many levels
We almost walked out. Sex scences were, well, vulger and unnecessary. The chemistry between chracters was bizzare and confusing. Castle-Hughes doesn't age and isn't convincing. Too much unexplained. Only highlight would be the baroness who had some depth to her character. People shouldn't put up ratings until they have seen a movie.
Unconvincing
I am really sorry to say this as I was really looking forward to this film. Saw a preview last night and was left feeling very unconvinced. Keisha's character was not aged at all even though her husband aged dramatically through the film. Having read the book previously, I also felt that with all the angst re: the relationship with the angel which was...
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