It's 19th century France. Sobran Jodeau is a peasant working for a château winemaker. He wants to make more than peasant wine. During one drunken night, he is rescued by angel Xas who offers him special seeds in exchange for meeting him one night every year for the rest of his life. Sobran marries Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and starts a family. The Chateau's Baroness Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga) returns from Paris. It's a fable of love, passion, and wine.Niki Caro, who wrote and directed 'Whale Rider', has created a melodrama about French vine during the Napoleanic age. It's a bit of a grind. It's long and melodramatic like an old romance novel. It does go off in unexpected directions. The passion for the vines do come through the screen. Jérémie Renier has a shiftiness that is unappealing and distracts from the assumed passion from Sobran. His European accent don't match either Vera or Keisha. Keisha is underused and is no more than a face. Another lead could tie the whole movie together. This movie struggles to find solid ground but I do like the wine making.

This is such a beautiful show about the relationship of man and angle. The friendship and conflict between them is so well filmed that it's almost legendary! The idea of a human's life from young to death, all is shown. I strongly suggest everyone to watch this beautiful show, you learn so much from it! I was laughing and crying with them, all of those emotions all came so strongly and powerfully. I had watch this movie at least 3 times now and the emotions still won't easy it self. The angle in this movie is so different from all the other ones I had watch, he seems so lonely! And OMG the wine maker! Sometime I want to knock him in the head ( don't ask me why)! But above all. Bless all who made this move!

THE VINTNER'S LUCK has had a bad press since its 2009 release on account of its slow pace and apparently perfunctory characterization. In truth the story is straightforward enough, as vintner Sobran Jodeau (Jérémie Renier) learns how to cultivate a vineyard with the help of angel (Gaspard Ulliel), while trying to bring up his family, and coping with an ineffectual patron (Keisha Castle-Hughes). The film emphasizes quite strongly that individuals should make their own luck in order to succeed; Jodeau discovers this at the end, after his vineyard has been blighted by a bug, and the angel suddenly becomes a mortal. The pleasures of this film lie in the beautiful photography - in Burgundy and New Zealand, both standing in for eighteenth century France - by Denis Lenoir, and the finely judged camera-work by director Niki Caro. One gesture, one expression is worth a thousand words.

Having read the novel by Elizabeth Knox I had high hopes for the film. I bought the DVD and when I got round to the viewing I was impressed by Niki Caro's rendition. The movie was beautifully crafted from start to finish with the exception of the wasted screen time establishing the landscape. Too much screen time was dedicated to the albeit beautiful French/New Zealand landscape. The casting was perfect, each of the protagonists had a part to play romantically to Sobran Jodeau. Celeste (Keisha Castle Hughes) was the physical, the Baroness (Vera Farmiga) being Intelletual and Xas (Gaspard Ulliel) the spiritual. One factor I found disappointing was the relationship between Sobran and Xas in the novel played a significant role in influencing the fruition of Sobran's dreams to create a wine never tasted, yet in the film the relationship seemed downplayed. Which is a shame because it seemed like the film missed something which would have brought justice to the novel. However I definitely think that this movie is a gem which touches on a mythical theme not explored in the film Industry. The introduction of the angel Xas seemed very believable and I believe Niki managed to bring to life Elizabeth Knox's story of a vintner and his angel to life.