Back to Burgundy (Ce Qui Nous Lie) 2017

     Jean has been away from his family for about ten years.  He’s been living in Australia with is girlfriend and they have a young son.  Jean didn’t return for his mother’s funeral because is son was a newborn and still in the hospital with his mother.  He returns home to Burgundy and his brother and sister are unhappy with him.  They do begin to understand when he explains his situation.  Their father is in the hospital and he dies soon after Jean’s return.  The siblings are tasked with running the family vineyard.  There is a 600,000-euro inheritance tax and they need to decide how to pay this.  They can sell the house, they can divide up the vineyard and sell parcels or they can sell everything?  It’s a tough decision and right now they need to get the harvest completed for this year.  There are complications for Jean because of his family living in another country and he is paying $1000 a month for his own domain in Australia.

     The scenery is very beautiful in this area of France.  You can see how much knowledge and work is involved in the harvest.  There is the timing of the harvest and the timing of the fermenting and bottling process.  Each one of the siblings has baggage from their childhoods too.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

113 min, Drama directed by Cedric Klapisch with Pio Marmai, Ana Girardot, Francois Civil, Jean-Marc Roulot, Maria Valverde, Yamee Couture, Jean-Maarie Winling, Florence Pernel, Eric Caravaca, Tewfik Jallab.

Note:  Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 70% critic 65% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 5* with 2 reviews, Metacritic 58 out of 100 with 13 critics, Washington Post 2.5* out of 5* Pat Padua.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in the Beaune region (Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet, Corton Hill).  This area is in the wine capital of Burgund and located between Paris and Geneva.  If you are a tourist in this region, you can visit an ancient wine cellar, dine on authentic beef bourguignon, take a bike trip along the Voie des Vignes, go hiking in the Hautes-Cotes de Beaune, sail a barge down the Canal du Centre, visit Fontenay Abbey and the Notre Dame Basilica.  There is also the Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction of burgundy wine in November.   It is one of the key wine centers in France and the center of Burgundy.  The film budget estimated to be $9.2 million with a gross of $9.4 million.