A Year in Provence

Introduction

When Peter Mayle, an advertising executive in London, decided to retire from the rat race and move into a traditional farmhouse in Provence with his wife, he probably had no idea of what lay in store. Over the first year they encountered curiosity and suspicion from the natives, the joys of French workmen and truffle hunting. He turned his experiences into a book, 'A Year in Provence' which became a bestseller, and probably sparked the phenomenon of Brits buying up French properties as second homes.

In 1993 the book was turned into a 12 part TV series by the BBC with John Thaw playing Peter and Lindsay Duncan as Annie. The rest of the cast is largely French although Alfred Molina unforgettably appears as Tony, an archetypal yuppie and guest from hell!

This is the third release of the series on DVD after releases in 2001 and 2005, with the 12 episodes split into two parts on one disc.

Video

Broadcast quality from 1993, with some softness and lack of clarity in the darker scenes, but it's nigh on impossible to film something in Provence and make it look bad, as the scenery is just beautiful.

Audio

A decent Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track, with a lovely score and optional English HoH subtitles.

Extra Features

None

Conclusion

I never read the book but did listen to it on tape and loved Mayle's use of language - some would say that any adaptation would fail to do justice to the source material and my favourite bit of the film are the clips from the book, told as narration. The film differs from the source material, changing some names and events slightly, but it is a lovely watch with terrific performances by John Thaw and Lindsay Duncan and the French supporting cast, together with the filming on location, give it a sense of authenticity.

The screenwriting is clever in that the French speak French (and very quickly at that) and the Mayles communicate with them in 'Franglais' so that they are able to get their point across and understand the responses - Annie's French is better than Peter's - but the way that English is interspersed into the dialogue means that non-Francophone viewers are able to grasp the meaning of the exchanges.

A Year in Provence is a charming, heart-warming and feel-good piece of television. I defy anybody to watch it and not feel the urge to try it out for themselves. If you already own it, this isn't an improvement on the existing releases, but if not, it is a wonderful way to spend a couple of evenings and the sort of DVD that lends itself to repeated viewings.