Gladiator duo Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe re-team for this adaptation of author Peter Mayle's best-selling novel about a London-based investment banker who relocates to Provence in hopes of selling a small vineyard he has inherited from his recently deceased uncle. As a child, Max Skinner (Freddie Highmore) was taught to appreciate the finer things in life while wandering the vineyard estate of his sophisticated uncle Henry (Albert Finney). Life has a strange way or turning out how you least expect it to though, and 25 years later, Max (Russell Crowe) is now a prosperous moneyman wheeling and dealing in the cutthroat world of London business. When Max learns that Henry has recently passed away and that he has been named the sole beneficiary of his late uncle's modest estate, the keen businessman hastily arranges a flight to France in order to assess the value of the old property and get it prepped for sale. After Max arrives to find the vineyard in a crumbling state of disrepair, his troubles are further compounded by the stubbornness of gruff estate winemaker M. Duflot (Didier Bourdon) and the unexpected arrival of a determined California beauty named Christie (Abbie Cornish), who presents herself as a long-lost cousin while making a dubious claim to Henry's estate. Meanwhile, the overstressed Max reluctantly finds himself falling for local café owner and town siren Fanny (Marion Cotillard), whose formidable guard is quickly worn down by the smitten beneficiary. Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Genre: Comedy Drama
- Category Comedy of Manners, Slice of Life
- Theme: Inheritance at Stake, Starting Over, Existential Crisis, Fish Out of Water
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Run Time: 01 hr 58 min
- Language: Spanish, English, French
- Subtitle Language: Spanish, English
- Format: DVD
- Release Date: February 27, 2007
- Lead Actor: Albert Finney, Russell Crowe, Didier Bourdon, Abbie Cornish, Marion Cotillard
- Supporting Actor: Catherine Vinatier, Freddie Highmore, Isabelle Candelier, Craig Young, Jean-Paul Vignon, Karen Strassman, Bruno Stephane, Linda Sans, Ian Ruskin, Samantha Jane Robson, Jean-Michael Richaud, Darren Richardson, Valeria Milenka Repnau, Moira Quirk, Paula Jane Newman, Caitlin McKenna-Wilkinson, Peter Lavin, Frank Isles, Patrick Hillan, Nicholas Guest, Jean Gilpin, Neil Dickson, Jean-Louis Darville, Helene Cardona, Edita Brychta, Philippe Bergeron, Toney Tutini, Gregg Chillin, Marine Casto, Tom Hollander, Tom Stuart, Stewart Wright, Dominique Laurent, Philippe Mery, Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus, Judi Dickerson, Mitchell Mullen, Felicite du Jeu, Patrick Payet, Catriona MacColl, Jacques Herlin, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Magalie Woch, Oleg Sosnovikov, Igor Panich, Maria Papas, Lionel Briand, Giannina Facio, Stephen Hudson, Nila Aalia, Daniel Mays, Ali Rhodes, Patrick Kennedy, Ben Righton, Richard Coyle, Rafe Spall, Archie Panjabi, Kenneth Cranham
- Director: Ridley Scott
