A Good Year (2006 Ridley Scott)

Marc Kelin's decent script is an adaptation of Peter Mayle's 2004 novel - Mayle being a former advertising colleague and neighbour of Scott. (He also wrote 'A Year in Provence' and died in January.)

Russell Crowe's accent has something of the pantomime to it, but he is surrounded by a stellar cast of Brits - Archie Punjabi, Tom Hollander, Rafe Spall, Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland and Close To The Enemy), Albert Finney, Kenneth Cranham and (fleetingly) Daniel Mays. In France there's Dider Bourdon, Isabelle Candelier, Marion Cotillard and Abbie Cornish.

Not sure scorpions would come into a first floor window (though if this is in Mayle's book, I guess he would know), nor about the over-emphatically blue colour palette of London, but enjoyable in the way the past keeps resurfacing and in the secret of the wine... Didn't recognise any of the clips shown in the montage against Trenet's 'Boum' - mainly French I guess, perhaps put together for the film?

Photographed by Philippe le Sourd in Panavision.

Interesting song choices in soundtrack too.