A Good Year

A Good Year

Director:

 Ridley Scott

Writers:

 Marc Klein (screenplay), Peter Mayle (novel)

A friend of mine once told me that ‘You seek what you see’. Isn’t that true?

You see a wonderful car passing by the road and then you feel like owning it.

You see a posh apartment of your friend or a relative and the next day you want to furnish your home in the same manner.

In a similar fashion, people often say that olden days were much more beautiful than the present. ‘Old is Gold’. Nobody ever feels that the time in future will be golden. Childhood memories are always much more blissful. I think this state of mind justifies my friend’s statement of ‘You seek what you see’. We have seen our childhood and that’s the reason we want it back. Nobody has seen the future or has experienced it. So nobody says that the days in future will be golden and I want to seek the future.

‘Good Year’ is a movie in which the main character of the movie – ‘Max’ (played by Russel Crowe)spends his summer holidays with his uncle in the vineyard estate of his uncle in France. Later on, He becomes a materialistic investment banker in England. Life changes for Max post his uncle’s demise. Max being the sole beneficiary of the property goes back to the vineyards estate to sell it. But ultimately he ends up quitting his profession as an investment banker and starts living a normal life of a villager near the vineyards owned by his uncle. He recollects the golden memories he had spent with his uncle. The game of Cricket and Tennis that he used to play as a child. The finer details shared by his uncle about the making of a fine quality wine.

When the company chairman Sir Nigel asks Max to make a choice between’Money or Life’, he chooses the later. The wonderful time which Max had spent as a child in the vineyards estate overshadows the posh and luxurious lifestyle which he would have enjoyed in the future. Once again proving the idea that Past is always wonderful.

The passion of dedicated winemaker – ‘Francis’ and the romantic angle added by the introduction of ‘Fanny’ a café owner makes the story more interesting.