Oh. You guys expect movies to be historically correct. You must truly hate movies like Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.
Though I agree that historical accuracy is not a good criterion for evaluating fiction (neither Shakespeare nor Tolstoy could come even close to clearing that bar), none of these movies are among my favorites. And I’m not fond of Bottle Shock or a Good Year either. One person’s meat and all that.
First of all, Bottle Shock is actually very good – super campy, overdone, and hilarious. If you can’t see the charm of this movie you perhaps take yourself or wine too seriously. Alan Rickman gives a performance for the ages and is the comic center of the movie.
Second, I was inspired to watch “Ce Qui Nous Lie”/“Back to Burgundy” last night by this thread, and it is FANTASTIC, good claim to being the best wine movie ever. It seamlessly weaves together Burgundy economics, sociology, and georgraphy, winemaking, and family and interpersonal drama. It succeeds completely a winemaking movie, a dramatic film, and an exploration of Burgundy. Visually it centers the geography of Burgundy in an unobtrusive but all-encompassing way, it saturates you in the land not in the general sense of “here’s a picturesque shot of vines” but in the highly specific sense of “here is the hill of Corton, here is how better crus are located higher up, here’s the layout of the cotes de Beaune”. Highly, highly recommended. Hard to judge what the “best” wine movie ever is but I can’t think of any movie that has succeeded so completely as a precise and detailed examination of how winemaking functions in the real world, from the economics to the agriculture, while also succeeding so well as a pure dramatic movie that could be enjoyed even by a non wine fanatic.
It’s interesting to compare Bottle Shock and Ce Qui Nous Lie. They are totally different movies but in a way they have a similarity – they are both dramas set in and meant to highlight each country’s historic and central wine region. But Bottle Shock is like a super-spoofilated Napa Cab, tarted up and ultra-hedonistic, with a crazy new plot development every five seconds and wildly campy characters. Ce Qui Nous Lie is like a subtle, thoughtful, well aged Burgundy that rewards contemplation.
also, I have to ask with regard to Ce Qui Nous Lie/Back to Burgundy – is the “Anselme” character, this older wealthy wine producer who is a little shallow and dick-ish, meant to sort of spoof Patrick Landanger of Pousse d’Or? There is a reference to the Bousse d’Or vineyard and also when he is at dinner there is what looks like a bottle of Pousse d’Or wine
Your description of why you like Bottle Shock is a pretty good description, I expect, of why others dislike it. Aesthetic evaluation really is a messy business. One might as well try to persuade peeople who hate brussel sprouts as to why they should like them
It’s true. I’ve never met someone I consider a rational human being who doesn’t like bacon. But, since, for me, not liking bacon constitutes an a priori reason for classifying someone as not rational, there may be a circularity to the claim in my case.
Yes, one interpretation of Bottle Shock is that they didn’t actually intend to make a hilarious camp classic, but failed at making some kind of serious drama. I suppose some people might have a problem with that. But at least Alan Rickman, if no one else, definitely understood he was making a comedy classic. I think others may have suspected it too.
