R. 101 minutes. At the Chez Artiste.
How much you enjoy “You Will Be My Son” depends on how much you can take an unbearable, arrogant jerk as your lead character.
Paul, 65, an 11th-generation French winemaker, is a demanding father. Of his eager-to-please son, Martin, he says, “Martin’s lack of palate is regrettable, given his pedigree. … I worry about my grandson.”
Gee, thanks, dad.
The problem for Paul (Niels Arestrup) is that he needs a new right-hand man. Francois (Patrick Chesnais) is dying of cancer and can no longer run the winery. Martin (Lor…nt Deutsch) can’t cut it, no matter how hard he tries.
In comes Francois’ son Philippe (Nicolas Bridet) from Napa Valley, where he is Francis Ford Coppola’s head winemaker (no cameo from the Godfather; just name-dropping). Philippe is there to visit his father but soon is asked by Paul to supervise the harvest — a real slap in the face to Martin.
He even takes Philippe instead of Martin to Paris, where he is received into the Legion of Honor, which, strangely, he tells no one about.
Gilles Legrand’s film is irresistibly watchable, but, unlike Paul’s wine, we trust, a bit unsubtle. It might have been a richer experience had Martin been the main character — a complex young man who is searching for his true value.
