Slightly after the half-way point of _Back to Burgundy_, director
Cedric Klapisch unveils his masterstroke that takes the film beyond
where he has gone before. Up to that point the protagonists and
techniques have been recognizably Klapisch -- feckless, long-haired
generation Xers search for their place in the world; synthesizer
score and emphatic edits/cuts; stylized compositions, hiding the
faces of the father and the Australia estranged girlfriend Alicia.

Then Alicia (Maria Valverde) makes her her unexpected, delayed
entry, with young son in tow, and everything changes. The Spanish
actress is not much older than the three French (Pio Marmai, Ana
Giradot, and Francois Civil) playing the sibling-heirs of a
Burgundy vineyard, but she sure has the gravita of a royalty!
(In real life Valverde is a modern musical royalty too, having
married the lionized conductor Gustavo Dudamel.) I have seen her
in _Crack_ and _Madrid 1987_, and her self-possession has always
been remarkable. I can't think of another character quite like
Alicia in Klapisch's universe populated by flaky youths. Cecile
de France's Isabelle in the _Russian Doll_ trilogy is quite sure
of herself, but nothing like Valverde's cosmic anomaly.

Long before she shows up, her gravitational pull is already the
raison d'etre of the story. It is her refusal to commit to Pio's
Jean, needing more time before she can decide whether to take him
back, that leaves him in emotional purgatory, suspended between two
continents, between past and future. One can argue Alicia is
quite a monster, but her appearance is a boon to the siblings.
It gives them backbone to stand up for themselves, against the
badgering of vineyard employees as well as pushing in-laws.
One of the best scenes in the film has Civil's Jeremie telling
off his employer/father-in-law Anselme, turning down the latter's
attempt to buy their vineyard. He is so emotional yet inarticulate,
it is a toss-up whether the overbearing Anselme would blow up or
burst out laughing.

Alicia is great for Klapisch too; the character is part of his
maturation process. The film deals heavily with Klapisch's
beloved generation Xers coming of age, becoming parents, and
coming to terms with their own elderly fathers. Parents are
mostly absent in Klapisch's early films; in that sense the
director follows a long tradition of cinematic enfant terribles
who come to terms with their heritage, like Wong Kar-Wai and
Wim Wenders -- although he is not in their class.

As for Maria Valverde, one waits for her next project with
abated breath. She will take the role of Contessa Reneta in the
upcoming adaptation of Hemingway's _Across the River and Into
the Trees_. The film will be directed by Martin Campbell who
gave us the greatest "Bond woman" in Eva Green (_Casino Royale_);
I can't imagine that it will be a miss.

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