A Good Year Movie with Russell Crowe

A Good Year Movie

Long ago I fell in love with the 2006 romantic, comedy, A Good Year Movie. Russell Crowe stars as Max Skinner a ruthless and successful London bond trader. He is the only heir to his Uncle Henry’s (Albert Finney) vineyard and Chateau in Provence where he spent a lot of time as a child. He has not kept in touch with his Uncle as an adult.

All Max wants to do is sell the Chateau for a profit and get back to his city life. A lot of things happen to prevent the sale of the château. A stranger appears claiming to be his Uncle’s mysterious illegitimate daughter (Abbie Cornish) and Max meets a beautiful woman named Fanny (Marian Cotillard) who captures his heart.

The storyline is infectious with delightful characters. But, it’s the château, vineyard scenery and music that will carry you away to a land of enchantment that you will never be able to forget.

The movie is based on the book A Good Year by Peter Meyle. Directed by Ridley Scott who owned a home in Provence and was friends with Peter Meyle. It was filmed on location at Château la Canorgue in Provence with scenes inside the house, outside the house and gardens and vineyards.

In one of the opening scenes we meet Uncle Henry and young Max Skinner who learns about the finer things in life along with lessons about life from Uncle Henry.

Fast forward 25 years to Max the cutthroat bond trader.

He arrives at the château to assess the house and property with every intention to sell. I am in love with the far-reaching upper terrace with mature trees.

I will never forget this A Good Year movie breakfast scene. It was the first time I saw a French press coffee maker and ran out to get one. Whenever I use the coffee pot it reminds me of the movie.

After arriving and walking around the property, his childhood memories come flooding back so thick he could wipe them away with his hand. He sees himself as a child and Uncle Henry everywhere.

Michael and Shirley of Sablethouseblogspot Our House in Provence bought “a beautiful stone village house located in the heart of the medieval village of Sablet in Vaucluse region of Provence France.” They share their experiences in France on their blog. On a visit to the now famous A Good Year château and vineyards, they took these beautiful photos of the house, gardens and vineyards.

Here is beautiful Château la Canorgue in real-life. Several scenes were shot on the upper terrace in front of the château.

One of the final scenes in A Good Year with Max and Fanny was shot on the terrace.

Sablethouse in Our House in Provence: Russell Crowe share that there are 74 acres of organically grown vineyards.

The vineyard scenes made me wish to be a wine grower.

While running around the property snapping photos of the château and property for the real estate sale……

Max falls into the empty pool and misses his plane back to London for an important meeting with his directors and gets suspended from trading for a week.