Chateau average? There’s not much complexity to this romantic comedy about love in middle-age, set in the medieval city of Troyes in France’s Champagne region. It’s easy-going but lacking a bit of oomph, and the comedy never properly fizzes. Isabelle Carré and Bernard Campan give warm, likable performances as a couple meeting in their 40s; he owns a wine shop, she’s a midwife. But the real star is Troyes itself, with its cobbled alleyways, surrounded by vineyards. You might find yourself planning a mini-break during the slower bits.
Carré plays midwife Hortense as an interesting and believable contradiction of eager-to-please and spiky – though there’s something a bit off in the script’s depiction of her as single woman desperately filling up her spare time: choir practice, church on Sundays, volunteering at a homeless shelter. Hortense meets grumpy Jacques when she buys a bottle of wine in his shop and invites herself along to a tasting; Jacques has had to quit drinking after a health scare. (In the most French line of the film he protests to his doctor: “But I only drink fine wines. Wine isn’t alcohol.”) There’s a spark between Hortense and Jacques but their lives are already complicated enough.
In truth, some of the comedy around Hortense’s sadness at being childless feels clumsy and a bit cliched, and for a supposedly grownup romcom there’s a fair few ooh-er gags (including one about spitting v swallowing at a wine tasting). But the film gets by on the performances; in a smallish role, Mounir Amamra is a joy as Jacques’ workshy young assistant Steve. The movie ends with Hortense’s homeless friends quaffing a bottle of fancy Château Margaux. Unlike vintage plonk, this is not a experience that will linger.
• The Tasting is in UK cinemas from 31 January.
