One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family's vineyard when he stumbles on an angel. Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character. Compelling and erotic, The Vintner's Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighboring chateau.

The Vintner's Luck is a film directed and co-written by New Zealand filmmaker Niki Caro.It is very loosely based on the novel The Vintner's Luck by New Zealander Elizabeth Knox. The film had its international première at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2009. The film marks the second time Caro has worked with New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, who was nominated for an Academy Award at age 13 for her role in Caro's international breakthrough Whale Rider in 2002. The Vintner's Luck marks one of the first credits as scriptwriter for actor and script doctor Joan Scheckel.

Plot

A fantasy romance set in 19th century France. The film revolves around Sobran (Belgian actor Jeremie Renier), a young peasant winemaker, and the three important figures in his life - his beautiful wife Celeste (Castle-Hughes), baroness Aurora de Valday (American actor Vera Farmiga) and an angel named Xas (Hannibal Rising star Gaspard Ulliel).

The film was shot in New Zealand, Belgium, and France - including in the medieval castle of Berzé.

Cast

Jérémie Renier (Sobran Jodeau)

"This is my first role in English. It’s good for an actor to have something difficult in a role, it makes you more creative."

In 1995, aged fourteen, Jérémie Renier gave a memorable performance in La Promesse, for the Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film won fifteen international awards including the Los Angeles Film Critics and National Association of Film Critics Awards.

Ten years later his leading role in L’Enfant, for the Dardenne brothers, earned him a nomination as Best European Actor at the European Film Awards, while the film won the Palm D’or at Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, Renier again starred for the Dardennes in The Silence of Lorna, a film that won Best Screenplay award at Cannes, and was nominated for the Palm D’Or

Renier has starred in films for a range of European directors including Francois Ozon (The Criminals), Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours), Christophe Gans (The Brotherhood of the Wolf), and Jean-Marc Matout (Violence des Echanges en Milieu Tempere).

In 2006, Jérémie Renier was awarded the Jean Gabin Award.

Having already appeared in supporting roles in the films Atonement and In Bruges, The Vintner’s Luck marks Renier’s debut in a lead role in an English language film.

Keisha Castle-Hughes (Celeste)

"When I first read the script for Celeste I was just completely in love with her… really scared too because it’s a huge step for me as an actor to play someone who ages from 16 to 40 in the course of the film. I had to take a step at some time in my career to become an adult as an actor and to do that with someone like Niki… I feel extremely lucky."

Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2003 for her leading role in Niki Caro’s film Whale Rider, and at 13 years old, was the youngest ever Best Actress nominee. The role also won her the Chicago Film Festival Award as Most Promising Performer and the New Zealand Film Awards recognised her as Best Actress.

Keisha was chosen for the role when casting directors came to her primary school. She later admitted that when she started filming the story of a young girl who struggles to fulfil the destiny her grandfather refuses to recognise, she was unable to swim.

After the international success of Whale Rider, which won multiple awards at festivals worldwide, Keisha returned to school. In 2005 she was cast in a cameo role, as Queen of Naboo, in George Lucas’ third film in the blockbuster series Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

For director Catherine Hardwicke she took the role of young Mary in The Nativity Story in 2006, and the same year starred in the Australian comedy Hey Hey, It’s Ester Blueburger, written and directed by Cathy Randall. Most recently Keisha Castle-Hughes has appeared as Young Kat in the TVNZ drama "Piece of my Heart".

Vera Farmiga (Aurora)

"Aurora is everything Celeste is not. Celeste is instinct and animal and Aurora is cerebral and emancipation. Celeste is mad, and Aurora is very much in control… all reason and rationale, with little sensual experience."

Vera Farmiga gained international recognition in 2007 for her role in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning film The Departed, co-starring with Matt Damon, Leonardo di Caprio, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg, with whom she shared the National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

In 2004, her leading role in Down to the Bone won her the Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Actress, and awards from the Sundance Film Festival, Bendfilm Festival, the Marrakech Film Festival and LA Film Critics Award.

Farmiga began her acting career in 1996, on stage and television, taking the lead in the television adventure series Roar, opposite a then unknown Heath Ledger. In 1998, she appeared on film in Return to Paradise, directed by Joseph Rubin. Other notable roles include Breaking and Entering for director Anthony Minghella, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman, and Jaume Collet-Serra’s Orphan.

Gaspard Ulliel (Xas)

"I think everyone has their own interpretation and their own image of an angel. I’m not really into religion or spiritual or mystical ideas, I’m quite down to earth, so it was interesting for me to work on such a character."

Gaspard Ulliel was nominated Most Promising Actor at the French César Awards in 2003 for Embrassez Qui Vous Voudrez, co-starring with Charlotte Rampling, and again in 2004 for Les Egares, with Emmanuelle Beart, before winning in 2005 for his performance in Jean-Pierre’ Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement, where he co-starred with Audrey Tatou. He began his film career at twelve years of age in A Woman in White, and spent the next few years appearing on television and in short films. His breakthrough came when director Michel Blanc cast him in Embrassez Qui Vous Voudrez, a role that also won him recognition with the award for Best newcomer in the Lumiere Awards.
Ulliel’s English language debut was the leading role in Hannibal Rising (2007) for director Peter Webber. Other recent leading roles include La Troisieme Partie du Monde, directed by Eric Forestien, and The Sea Wall, directed by Rithy Panh, based on the novel by Marguerite Duras, and co-starring Isabelle Huppert.