A GOOD YEAR 2006 117 minutes

Directed by Ridley Scott of Alien and Blade Runner fame, this comparatively “small” film came about when Scott and his neighbor in Provence, the writer Peter Mayle came up with a fish-out-of-water story involving an Englishman who inherits a French vineyard. The premise of the English abroad could be a genre of its own, with Enchanted April, A Room with a View, and The Durrells of Corfu being prime examples. In A Good Year, the Englishman is of a particularly arrogant variety, played by Russell Crowe, a high-wire London financial trader looking to make a quick sale of his uncle’s dilapidated chateau. Complications soon arise in France, miring Crowe’s character in the nuances of the local culture, while memories of his curmudgeonly uncle (Albert Finney) and romance with a local restauranteur (Marion Cotillard) awaken his better instincts.

BE ADVISED: This film is rated PG-13 with smoking, drinking, profanity, sexuality, and an uncomfortable swim in an empty pool.