The Vinter’s Luck

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Sobran is a peasant working his small patch of land in a vineyard in Burgundy in the early 180os. The peasants’ grapes are sold to the local manor, and the manor winemaker produces wine that is at best ordinary. Sobran longs to do better. One night while drinking out his sorrows on a hillside among the vines he is visited by an angel, Xas, who recognises in Sobran a sort of fellowship of the frustrated vine grower. Xas says that he has a small garden where he comes from, and brings Sobran some cuttings from his vines. He urges Sobran to grow them in a small patch of hard stony ground owned by Sobran and otherwise useless. Sobran takes his advice and plants the cuttings. It is hard work and the soil must be improved tremendously, but he keeps at it as well as doing his normal work in the other vineyards.

Things start to improve for Sobran. He marries Celeste, the love of his life, hey have a child. In his yearly meetings with the angel he is able to report progress until the time comes when his first vintage is produced. It is earthy and will take a couple of years to improve but it tastes of his passion and his sweat. Gradually it matures into a fine wine and he is taken more seriously by the Baron. Sobran and the angel become strong friends and at their annual meetings they share wine and information. Winemaking is at best a lot of experience and guesswork – the weather, the right day to pick, disease – and Sobran seems to have the luck to guess all these factors right. When the old Baron dies his daughter offers Sobran the post of winemaker and it seems Sobran’s future is going to be comfortable.

Then his youngest daughter dies. He and his wife are desolated but he asks the angel to check on her in heaven and make sure she is in no pain. The angel replies that it will be difficult but he will do his best. At their next meeting he reports that the young one is in no pain, but with further questioning he admits he has not seen her. He reveals his true situation – not all angels live in heaven, some have chosen to live in hell. Sobran rejects him and it seems their friendship is over.

Things now turn bad for Sobran. His wife is jealous of the Baroness and gives her a cream that causes cancer. The Baroness’ operation is painful and disfiguring. Sobran can only produce ordinary vintages. Has he lost his touch? He misreads the weather and a vintage is all but destroyed in a freak storm. Finally disease strikes the vines and the vineyard looks like being wiped out. Only his experience and the small patch of vines he planted on the hillside, together with the Baroness’ contacts, get him the new rootstock to replant.

Finally, older and wiser, he returns to the hillside to meet the angel again. Their friendship is renewed, although not without strong homosexual overtones. They are witnessed by the Baroness and Celeste. The angel reveals that there is one thing he wants Sobran to do for him. It is a terrible thing, but Sobran agrees – for his friend.

New Zealand director Niki Caro took some liberties with Elizabeth Knox’s novel, and this has aroused the ire of many critics. I have not read the book so I was able to watch the film with an open mind. I thought it was quite a powerful story and well made. Although many critics compare it with Caro’s previous film or with the novel, and do the same with the actors’ performances, I think the film stands perfectly well by itself. It is a beautiful film, shot in France and Belgium, and the soft tones do not detract from the film but enhance it. In the strongly religious times of the story the appearance of an angel does not seem incongruous, and neither does Sobran’s obsession with judging a wine in terms of its maker rather than its chemical composition. His passion is allowed to show through and there is little of the posing of modern wine judging.

If you haven’t read the book, the film is well worth watching.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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