PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 11/08/06)

More Ridley Scott and others at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival.

Ridley Scott has chosen a sweet wine to wash down the bitter disappointment of his 2005 Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven. A Good Year, set in Scott's own home-away-from-home, Provence, explores the balance between finding professional success and living a fulfilling life. In this film, Scott has allowed himself a vacation of sorts, taking a brief respite from more violent, technically elaborate productions.

Henry (Albert Finney) plays an epicurean chateau owner who tries to impart a lifetime of wisdom onto his young nephew Max (Freddie Highmore). In the opening scene, when Henry catches the boy unapologetically cheating him in a game of chess, he realizes he has his work cut out for him.

Years later, Max (now played by Russell Crowe) becomes a brilliant but callous London bonds trader who inherits the Provence estate where he spent his happy boyhood summers. Max sees this acquisition as nuisance, but also sees an opportunity for a quick real estate flip.

Uncouth and out of place in such rustic elegance, Max arrives at the estate with little respect for the simple life he once loved. As Max explores the grounds, Scott employs heavy-handed attempts at slapstick. The star repeatedly trips, falls down, and spills food on himself, but the gags fall flat. Crowe has proven his versatility but is is best in his roles as tough guys in films like LA Confidential and Cinderella Man. He portrays the vicious alpha male bonds trader without a hitch but has a hard time selling himself as an uncoordinated doofus.

As Max is reintroduced to his surroundings, however, Scott, a master of atmosphere, renders several delicately crafted transitions. Max is haunted by sights, sounds and smells of seemingly ordinary objects which brings him back to his childhood, his uncle and the chateau a generation earlier.

Finney, only seen in these flashbacks, is pitch perfect in the role of loving Uncle Henry whose joie de vivre lives on through the chateau's caretakers (Dider Bourbon and Isabelle Candelier) and an American orphan looking for her father, played by Abbie Cornish. Through them, Crowe finally learns his uncle's lessons post mortem.

The bright, natural light, colors and general lighthearted sensibilities of this film are reminiscent of Scott's 2003 film Matchstick Men. These recent films are a stark contrast to his more compelling earlier works, classics like Alien and Blade Runner, which featured bleak storylines, and richly dark, atmospheres. Provence looks like a lovely place to visit and Mr. Scott deserves his rest now and then, but let's hope he gets back to darker work soon.

— Scott Warren