Paul has always imitated and bullied his rather meek adult son Martin.  He blames his wife’s premature death on the sheer stress of looking after puny Martin in his difficult childhood, and although his son has worked hard to take his place in the family winemaking business, he still does not have either the love or respect of his difficult father.

Their rather spectacular Bordeaux vineyard has been in their family for 11 generations so Martin assumes when his father dies he will inherit it next.   Paul has other ideas and when Francois his old Estate Manager and right-hand man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he panics and calls and asks Francois’s son Phillipe to come home and visit his dying father. Phillipe has been managing the famed Coppola Winery in California and is a charming extrovert and confident young man  … the very opposite of Martin.

It soon becomes clear that Paul’s motive in persuading Phillipe’s visit was a devious plot to make him his heir and adopted son rather than have him visit his sick father. Along the way the wily old man not only breaks the heart of Martin who has put up with being treated with such disdain over years, but he also unknowingly infuriates Francois who has never been rewarded for his enormous part of the vineyards success and now sees this wealthy man just attempting to ‘buy’ his son.  It will be Paul’s eventual downfall.

This monster father & mild son strife is a rather harrowing psychological dark drama more surprisingly so as it is set in the extraordinarily beautiful lush green countryside with its rolling hills and its wonderful ancient chateau.  Paul is played so perfectly by veteran Nils Arestrup who seems to have cornered the market in playing this tough father figures in French cinema (‘Our Children’, ‘The Prophet’, ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’). Martin is played by Lorant Deutsch but poor man, his character is overshadowed not just by handsome Phillipe (Nicolas Bridet) but also from his lively feisty wife Madeline (Valérie Mairesse) who is the only one not scared of facing up to this unscrupulous old man.

Gripping story beautifully told with an unexpected ending.

P.S. Apart from this being my second Nils Arestrup this week, its my third movie on wine making in as many weeks (‘Red Obsession’ & ‘Somm’) ….. I really want a drink now BUT they all featured vintages I could probably never afford!

★★★★★★★★