You Will Be My Son

Tradition weighs heavy at a top Bordeaux chateau, where fearsome patriarch Niels Arestrup (the vicious old lag in ‘A Prophet’) is unconvinced that his eager but weak-willed son Lorànt Deutsch has what it takes to follow in his footsteps. When illness strikes the property’s veteran estate manager, it could be a chance for junior to bring in a stunning new vintage – yet intransigent Arestrup turns instead to his stricken sidekick’s jet-setting winemaker son, just returned from the Coppola estate in California. Soon, the newly picked Merlot is fermenting, and filial resentment is bubbling up too, in a film which benefits from absolute authenticity of setting but proves a bit foursquare as drama. To French writer-director Gilles Legrand’s credit, the resolution is very deftly done, and even if the film labours a little in getting there, Arestrup is in his element playing the imposingly wilful father and boss. Old-world wine buffs will absolutely adore this.