Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Blistering performances.

Getting the internet back on at home after 2 days of the server crashing,I decided to take a look at the movies listed on BBC iPlayer.Getting near the end of the list,I noticed a splendid looking,dark French Drama,which led to me getting ready to find out what vintage the film is.The plot:After running the family vineyard for decades, Paul de Marseul starts to become aware that some point soon he will have to pass the Marseul legacy over to the next generation:his son Martin.Whilst past generations have made the transitions go smoothly,Paul is only able to look at Martin with pure hatred,as Paul treats his son to constant bullying,which includes blaming him for the death of their wife/mum,and Martin being unable to get his girlfriend pregnant. Learning that his dad (and friend of Martin) François Amelot is struggling in his battle with cancer, Philippe Amelot decides to go and support his dad.Meeting Philippe,Paul is thrilled to find that Philippe has all the qualities Martin lacks.Suspecting that François is near death (what a friend!) Paul starts making plans to hang a new son on the vineyards.View on the film:Sweeping over the vineyards,co-writer/(along with Laure Gasparotto & Delphine de Vigan) director Gilles Legrand and cinematographer Yves Angelo unwrap the darkness decaying the heart of the Marseul family.Taking inspiration from Film Noir sheen, Legrand and Angelo paint the wine in a golden ruby,which masks the rot setting in at the centre,which Legrand superbly unveils by transforming the Marseul's wine vault into a Gothic Horror crypt,where the bitter anger consuming Paul is allowed to ferment.While the way Paul treats Martin is extremely harsh,the screenplay by Legrand/ Gasparotto and Vigan make each sharp line of dialogue land with a real punch,due to the writers cleverly using Paul's viciousness to place him in a deadly corner. Giving Paul a "warm uncle" shine,the writers wonderfully send Paul down an unforgiving Film Noir loner path lit up by Paul isolating himself by hurling snarling swipes at all who stand in his way,until Paul is left as a monster in his self-imposed den.Soaked in buckets of misery, Lorànt Deutsch gives a thrilling performance as Martin,whose bruised knuckles Deutsch digs deep into,whilst dapper Nicolas Bridet makes Philippe look like he is walking on water with his savvy charms.Stomping down on the grapes, Niels Arestrup gives a thunderous performance as Paul,thanks to Arestrup joyfully burning Paul's cuddly side and digging up the pure Film Noir cruelty,in a movie which should be watched through the grapevines.

Some excellent playing in this film which really works because its French. Some have commented on the character of the son, Martin and that he is an unsympathetic character. In Hollywood, he would have been a lovely doe-eyed sweetie pie, but this is a French movie. A son who has been constantly neglected, abused and criticised by his father is likely to be introverted, resentful and unconfident and so he is. It is to be admired that he is portrayed as flawed and uncharismatic. His loyal and loving wife keeps him going and supports him-without her he would not cope. This film, with more work, money, time etc could have been a classic, but it is still a good reason to value the French film industry.

Gilles Legrand delivers with Tu Seras Mon Fils a poignant drama carried an excellent duo of actors whose performances are oozing accuracy, the always masterful Niels Arestrup, frightening as an authoritarian and despising patriarch, and Lorànt Deutsch, touching as a constantly demeaned son.The viewer ends up completely carried away by this polished familial tragedy where the implacable unfolding of the plot and the striking dialogues totally captivate from end to end. However, certain motivations are a bit hard to assimilate and the purpose of the opening scene is questionable because it incomprehensibly reveals the twist of the movie, which by the way could be regarded as a bit sloppy.All in all, Tu Seras Mon Fils overall is solid and deserves more consideration than the press critics tried to convince us.

I found this movie aggravating. The head of a French vineyard constantly belittles his son - near the end, we find out that it is at least in part because the father lost his wife in part because of his son's ill health. The father eventually favors the son of his foreman. But the son is not presented in a sympathetic way, and though his situation is unfair, we never get a chance to really feel for him.The acting is all fine, and some of the shots of Provence are wonderful. There were the makings here of a much better movie, but that would have required rethinking the script, and therefore probably finding a better director.----------------------------I watched this movie again this evening, and that gave me no reason to improve my previous opinion of it. The only reason this movie works at all is because the lead, Niels Arestrup, has so much charisma, that you remain interested in his thoroughly disagreeable character despite his many flaws; had a less charismatic actor played the role, the character would have been so hard to stomach that I doubt anyone would have sat through the movie.On the other hand, Lorànt Deutsch, who plays his son, comes across as having no charisma whatsoever. (What makes his extremely attractive and intelligent wife stay with him the movie never begins to make clear.) As a result, it is very hard to feel sorry for him, even through his father treats him like dirt for no good reason.This is just a dissatisfying movie. A shame, because there were the makings of an interesting story here.