BACK TO BURGUNDY by Carol Kaufman Segal

            France is a country known for its superlative wines.  Back to Bugundy is a French film that revolves around three siblings who grew up in a family whose livelihood was dedicated to the craft of cultivating grapes and to the final process of making fine wine.  From the time they were children, they were involved in tasting and giving their input to the process towards the ultimate finish. 

            Jean (Pio Marmai), Juliette (Ana Girardot), and Jeremie (Francois Civil), thirty-something siblings, grew up in Burgundy France on the vineyard where their father, and his father before him ran their family wine business.  Jean, the elder sibling, left the domain ten years ago due to an animosity with his father.  He has been living and operating a business in Australia where he left behind his longtime girlfriend with whom he has been having problems. He desperately wants their relationship healed, and especially for the sake of their son Ben with whom he has a loving and close relationship. Not the ideal time to have had to leave, but he has returned to Burgundy after being made aware of his father’s impending death. 

            Juliette worked with her father to learn the wine-making business, and though she seems to have a knack for the business and works very hard at her craft, she is not self-confident about her ability.  She is very happy to have Jean back with her in Burgundy.  The youngest of the three siblings, Jeremie, has married a girl from a wealthy wine-making family and ends up having to deal with an imperialistic father-in-law.

            These are all problems enough for all three of them, but after their father’s death, they are left with a crisis situation.  Their father left the land and the business to each of them as equal owners, and now they have a huge problem, how to maintain the property and be able to pay the huge inheritance tax.  

            This excellent film, written by Cedric Klapisch and Santiago Amigorena and directed by Cedric Klapisch, was filmed in Burgundy, France.  The screenplay was developed with the collaboration of veteran actor Jean-Marc Roulot (who plays Marcel, the estate’s manager).  Jean-Marc Roulot, is not only an actor, but also owns his own vineyard.  The film shows how the entire winemaking process is achieved from beginning to end and took over one year and four seasons to achieve.  The cinematography, by Alexis Kavyrchine, is absolutely glorious.       

Playing at the following:

Laemmle Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles                                     

Laemmle Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena                                                                         Edwards Westpark  8 , 3735 Alton Pkwy., Irvine

Regency Rancho Niguel 7, 25471 Rancho Niguel Rd., Laguna Niguel

Running time, 113 minutes, French with English subtitles, Not rated.