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Reviews (1)
02 February 2007
A Year in Provence
2 of 3 found this helpful What a dissappointment. A 4 part 'mini-series' purported to be a faithful adaptation of Peter Mayle's best seller, it captures none of the magic so prevalent throughout the novel. It sinks to the absurb when, supposedly after a year living in France, the Mayle character continues to speak english to his new countrymen while they respond in french-all this so the non-french speakers in the audience can discern what the french are saying; put it all in french and give us subtitles, PLEASE!
With so many wonderful short stories and subplots contained within 'Provence' the novel, one is left to speculate why the screenwriters needed push aside Mayle the author and concoct their own. While Mayle the novel basks in the glow of french country culture of food, wine and fresh air, the video treatment substitutes a look at Mayle's wife (a mere shadow in the book), a near affair with a parisian hag, and a drawn out sequence concerning a stolen postbox.
At least one has the french countryside to look at, beautifully shot, right? Well no, at least not with my copy. The cinematography is indeed grand. However, the colors were washed out and no amount of color saturation on my set was able to bring them in. Hopefully this was just an artifact of my copy.
The highlights are provided the supporting actors Marcel Champel (the scruffy neighbor Rivier, aka Masot) and Jean-Pierre Delage (the plumber Colombani aka Menicucci)- absolutely brilliant.