Year in Provence: Amazon.ca: David Tucker, John Thaw, Lindsay Duncan, Jean-Pierre Delage, Jo Doumerg, Marcel Champel, Annie Sinigalia, Bernard Spiegel: DVD

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A Year in Provence, the made-for-TV version of the bestselling book by Peter Mayle, captures a year in the lives of Brits Mayle (John Thaw) and his wife Annie (Lindsay Duncan) in southern France. The Mayles both revel in and endure what for most would be a fantasy experience: leaving dull jobs, acquiring an old farmhouse in Provence, and (for Peter) attempting to write a novel in the midst of bucolic countryside, gourmet food and drink, and interesting people. With an Agatha Christie-meets-To the Manor Born sensibility, the Mayles brave mistral winds, truffle season and the Mafia that surrounds it, exasperating neighbors, constant summer guests, an attempt at old-fashioned winemaking, and a Father Christmas drama--all while trying to renovate their kitchen.

This is not an in-depth look at expatriate living; rather, Mayle gives us a pastiche of the comedic situations he and his wife find themselves in. Some viewers may yearn for more shots of the scenic locations and a more serious treatment of Provençal culture, but most will find this a whimsical adventure and an entertaining slice of fantasy meets reality. --Stefanie Durbin

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Customer Reviews

27 Reviews

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than the Book!, Dec 31 2003

By

takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Year in Provence, a (VHS Tape)

This 4-video set is one of those rare birds -- an adaptation that is better then the original book. Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence is good, but the screenplay made a few important changes that made all the difference.

The addition of a wife for Mayle is the main difference. While Mayle has a wife in the book, she fades so far into the background as to be virtually invisible. I see from the dedication in the book that her name is Jenny, but since the screenwriter had to create a wife out of whole cloth here, he gave her a new name as well -- Annie. The addition of Annie and the casting of Lindsay Crouse make all the difference.

Another difference was to subtract ex-spouses and grown children, which serves to streamline the story. Peter in the film is somewhat more short-tempered and loud than Peter in the book, but this makes a nice contrast with Annie. And who is going to make himself out to be a blowhard in his own book, after all? The rest of the story is much as Mayle wrote it.

This set has become one of our family favorites. We borrowed the public library's copies several times, then finally bought our own and watch it at least once a year. It's broken down into twelve 30-minute chapters, one for each month. You can watch it in half hour chunks or 90-minute doses, a whole season (and tape) at a time. The chapters stand alone, but are also threaded together to make a real story. In fact, the story comes together so neatly, that one suspects that although these episodes may really have happened, perhaps they happened over a period of several years, or in a different order. Still, some of the best non-fiction writers out there are novelists at heart.

The acting and the scenery in A Year in Provence are just great. The French characters are played by French actors and speak no English in the film. Since the Mayles are learning French, they are able to translate for us and it doesn't seem awkward.

There you have it: entertaining writing, good acting, gorgeous scenery, and a free French lesson thrown in.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun for some, but poor-quality DVD, July 17 2004

By

notmicro "notmicro" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Year in Provence (DVD)

I've been revisiting this wonderful mini-series on DVD, watching it on a hi-res screen, and note that the image-quality is really appalling. It looks like they took an old VHS tape, and strained it through a sieve. Which is probably pretty close to what actually happened, the "sieve" in this case being a really crude digital-compression system. Too bad, because it contains a lot of beautiful scenic photography, which has been turned to mush.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of our favorites - a vacation in itself, July 10 2003

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Econ PhD Student (Cornell University) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Year in Provence (DVD)

Every now and again, my wife and I, both avid travelers, feel the need to escape for a while. The problem is that we feel like getting away from the daily grind more often than time-off or money allows. A Year in Provence offers the perfect solution.

For a couple evenings in a row, we curl up on the couch or floor, open some red wine, put in the movie, and let escape to south france. It's fantastic.

The movie is funny and entertaining, but more than that, it is real. It makes you feel as though you could be the one with the house in Provence, getting into the little mishaps, making a big, entertaining deal about the smallest things. There are no epic adventures, it is simply a vacation. We could see anything that happens in the movie happening to anyone else, if only we were there.

The book is also excellent, but a little harder to enjoy at the same time as someone else.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Six hours in Provence -- what more could you want?
What a terrific movie! John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan are excellent portraying Peter Mayle and his wife Annie, and the numerous characters (both French and English) were are fun to... Read more

Published 24 days ago by Avid Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars A Year in Provence - Another view of John Thaw
I thoroughly enjoyed John Thaw in this film and he was the reason I purchased it. I am not familiar with the actress who played his wife prior to viewing this film. Read more