From Jan - "France Magazine" Article -

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A Good Year in Provence

Visitors to the Luberon during September and October may well have had the surreal experience of stumbling upon a movie set complete with catering vans, sound technicians, and other associated paraphernalia.

Not just any movie set, but a major Hollywood production directed by Sir Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe as the lead character who just happens to go by the name ‘Max’. Despite first impressions, the Provençal peace was not shattered by the clash of Roman cavalry and Barbarian hordes for ‘Gladiator II’. This is an entirely different kind of story, one described by Mr Crowe as ‘a comedy of manners’ and based on a romantic souffle by Peter Mayle.

By Hollywood standards it’s a small scale production, with a combined cast and crew of less than 200.… as opposed to the thousands involved an Epic….but still enough people, equipment and vehicles to make their presence felt in some of the narrow lanes and hilltop villages. They have packed up and gone now, but it will be interesting to see if the release of the film, provisionally scheduled for summer 2006, has any longer term effect on the area.

For locals, seeing Ridley Scott about the place may not be that unusual. He has owned a house in the Luberon for 14 years and is a long-time friend of Peter Mayle. Both men started out in advertising, ‘selling the dream’ offered by various products. Its simplistic, but nonetheless tempting, to view their respective creative work since as an extension of this. ‘A Year in Provence’, first published in 1989, was a dream that people happily bought into. Literally in many cases. Not that Provence is a very hard sell. But when recounted with Mayle’s easy-going wit and charm, the appeal of chucking in the rat-race for a life of rustic simplicity in the sun proved irresistible. So much so, its hard to quantify the effects to this day. How many people who bought French property after that time can say with certainty that they were not influenced, however indirectly? And I include people like myself who hadn’t read a word of Mayle before purchasing and who chose other, less sunny, climes to make their French home.

Which makes it all the more surprising that this is the first Big Screen adaptation of Mayle’s work. Ridley Scott was keen to rectify this ( no doubt keen to enjoy the luxury of filming in an area he loved) and asked his friend to produce a script. The author undertook instead to produce a novel that could lend itself to adaptation by specialist screenwriters and the result is ‘A Good Year’. In brief, it’s the story of Max Skinner, a disillusioned London investment banker whose career is in the doldrums. He inherits a vineyard from his Uncle Henry (played by Albert Finney), the man who, to quote Russell Crowe, “taught Max the difference between good and bad red wine and a good and bad cigar. Unfortunately he taught him all that around the age of 11, and things have changed.” (Unfortunate on another level, too, according to Scott, because it means Finney and Crowe do not share any scenes together, the Uncle appearing to ‘young Max’, played by Freddie Highmore, in flashbacks.) As Crowe explains: “The things his uncle put inside him as a boy are still there. By going back to Provence Max becomes revitalized.”

Even from this brief outline we can recognise all the elements of typical Mayle fare. Pleasantly flavoured, but hard to think of as meaty enough to sustain a major feature film. The book was a point of departure however, and reports seem to confirm that the film will have some significant additions and deviations from the source material. The assembled multi-national cast is certainly not light-weight. In addition to Crowe and Finney this includes: French comedy actor Didier Bourdon; Tom Hollander ( Mr Collins in the recent film version of Pride and Prejudice); Abbie Cornish as Max’s cousin Christie; and French actress Marion Cotillard as Fanny the café owner, who starred once before with Finney in ‘Big Fish‘. Oh, and a rather fetching green Smart Car.

To Francophile eyes, however, its hard not to feel that the real star….especially when captured by Scott’s renowned visual style….will be the region itself. So where exactly was the location? Hiding this sort of enterprise is impossible, especially in a tourist area, so eye-witness accounts -both accidental and contrived-of proceedings were not hard to find.

The vineyard Max comes to inherit is the main focus of the story on a number of levels and the setting chosen to portray this important role was Chateau La Canorgue, in the village of Bonnieux. The Chateau produces award-winning wines from organically grown vines. Hand picking begins a process which keeps closely to traditional methods. Quality, rather than quantity, is obviously the aim here.

From the point of view of telling the story, filming needed to coincide with the harvest. This imposed its own time-constraints and, along with a tight budget and some interruptions due to unseasonable weather, it proved an extremely busy few weeks. The owner’s daughter, Natalie, reports that she was among the ‘grape-pickers’ who appear as extras in the film. But this isn’t a documentary and some changes had been made to accommodate details of the story. She explained, for example, that the film crew had brought rocks in to one area of the vineyard to give it a special appearance (Which turns out to be of particular significance to the plot!) Rose trees were added to the ends of the rows of vines too. Even the family pony, ‘Pompon’, was in on the act ….and is going to star under the name of ‘Syrah’.

It seems that this interaction was a two-way street; despite their complaints, the film crew must have had some time left on their hands because they were regularly seen buying wine from the chateau. For those who would like to follow their example, the Chateau produces red wine made, of course, from sun-loving Syrah, combined with Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Grenache, and also a very pale rosé ….as the best of the region are….made from the Cinsault and Grenache. Their fruity ‘Blanc de Blanc’ is made from Clairette and the superior Bourboulene vines. It is known that wine was grown in the area by the Romans and evidence suggests the Chateau is built on the site of a Roman Villa. In any case, Roman remains are very visible locally. (It may have made Ridley and Russell wistful for Gladiator II after all!) Its easy to be awestruck by such timelessness yet comforted by the continuity at the same time. That feeling has a lot to do with Provence’s spell on refugees from the constant upheaval associated with modern life.

Most scenes took place in and around Bonnieux. Some actually took place under Bonnieux, in the caves that are linked to the mysterious Knights Templar. The typical provençal farmhouse ‘Jas des Eydins’ which is situated among cherry orchards and lavender fields outside the village will appear as the property of ‘Roussell’. An eye-witness there reported seeing the trees festooned with paper lanterns and that off camera there were three large cranes used for lighting. Clearly no efforts were spared to create a magical scene. Ridley Scott, ever the master of the use of light in his ‘pictures‘, will probably have a plaque in his honour at the local tourist office!

Despite the hard schedule it seems it wasn’t all work and no play. At Russell Crowe’s invitation, friend and Web-site owner Mary Murphy flew from the USA along with her daughter and reported that a good time was had by all. Russell had organized a boules tournament for members of the crew and this formed a central part of the wrap party celebrating the completion of shooting in Provence. There seems to have been a true ‘family atmosphere’ and this included the presence of Russell’s wife, Danielle, and their two year old son, Charlie. The Crowe’s left with a very special souvenir from their stay. Danielle is expecting their second child next July. On hearing the news, the Mayor of Bonnieux, Roger Fenelon, announced that he hoped the Crowe’s return after the birth so that the baby can be made an Honorary Citizen. What a start in life!

As Mayor Fenelon so quaintly put it: “I think that the very pleasant and warm atmosphere in the South of France might have helped them find the necessary inspiration.” Who, having been there, could argue with that assessment!

Filming in France was finally completed with shots of ‘Max’ arriving in Avignon on the TGF. Of course, movies are rarely shot in sequence and this meant it was back to London in early November to complete the shoot with what will actually be the first scenes in the film: Max the City Banker at Bloombergs , and looking harassed, complete with regulation suit and Hugh Grant hair. It was typical Bonfire Night weather….grey, chilly and damp. How they all must have longed to be back in Bonnieux!