I enjoyed this movie mostly because of the location, in Nimes France, just a short distance from Arles, Avignon, and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, places my wife and I visited when we spent two weeks there a little over 20 years ago.
However the story itself is a bit less dynamic. It basically involves an older British couple, late 60s and early 70s, retired to a modern French apartment complex. They have a nice place but you sense that maybe being there isn't all they hoped. Maybe living in retirement back in England would be more pleasant.
It focuses on the man, 73-yr-old James Fox as 73-yr-old Joseph who at one point states that he married his wife 50 years ago when he was 23. At that age you know your youth is well past but there is still a longing for the pretty girl, and the fantasy that maybe under the right circumstances it could work out.
That is apparently what is going through his mind when he and his wife meet a young British couple on holiday. By the way he looks at her you know he is smitten with 30-ish Natalie Dormer as very friendly Suzanne. She clearly likes him too, but I suspect more as an attractive grandfatherly figure, holding his elbow as they stroll through the vineyards, giving him the occasional smile from aside.
But soon the holiday ends, Suzanne's boyfriend proposes to her, and Joseph fully realizes yet again that his glory days are well past and maybe wonders how he will muster the enthusiasm to enjoy his state in life.
While I enjoyed the location and the actors, they are all good here, I don't find the story very compelling, maybe if they had ended up naked in the swimming pool then fade of black it would have generated a whole different set of "what ifs?" But as it is we just see it as an interesting "slice of life" of an older retired couple.
However the story itself is a bit less dynamic. It basically involves an older British couple, late 60s and early 70s, retired to a modern French apartment complex. They have a nice place but you sense that maybe being there isn't all they hoped. Maybe living in retirement back in England would be more pleasant.
It focuses on the man, 73-yr-old James Fox as 73-yr-old Joseph who at one point states that he married his wife 50 years ago when he was 23. At that age you know your youth is well past but there is still a longing for the pretty girl, and the fantasy that maybe under the right circumstances it could work out.
That is apparently what is going through his mind when he and his wife meet a young British couple on holiday. By the way he looks at her you know he is smitten with 30-ish Natalie Dormer as very friendly Suzanne. She clearly likes him too, but I suspect more as an attractive grandfatherly figure, holding his elbow as they stroll through the vineyards, giving him the occasional smile from aside.
But soon the holiday ends, Suzanne's boyfriend proposes to her, and Joseph fully realizes yet again that his glory days are well past and maybe wonders how he will muster the enthusiasm to enjoy his state in life.
While I enjoyed the location and the actors, they are all good here, I don't find the story very compelling, maybe if they had ended up naked in the swimming pool then fade of black it would have generated a whole different set of "what ifs?" But as it is we just see it as an interesting "slice of life" of an older retired couple.