Dir: Gabe Klinger | Brazil, France 2026
Gabe Klinger’s quirky little indie sees Isabel, a wine buff in a Michelin-starred restaurant, dreaming of opening her own bar.
Knowing about wine and turning that knowledge into a successful business are two different skills. And this is not France but São Paulo, Brazil’s capital. Although the lively sommeliere is driven by a desire to be her own boss, she has unrealistic expectations of how to monetise her dream and pay the bills. After a failed ‘flirt’ with a potential backer from Brooklyn, Isabel realises she must wake up and smell the ‘bouquet’.
Marina Person, who co-wrote the script, is so full of infectious energy that this, and her clear love of wine, powers her character through the initial stages of planning a business. But her moral support soon dwindles when her colleague makes other plans and her French-speaking husband is forced back to Paris for family reasons: The couple have had great fun making ‘natural’ wine in their poky apartment – we even see them treading grapes in the film’s opening scenes. But as a middle-aged woman Isabel now wants more out of life than getting drunk with her young colleague and taking flack from an unadventurous boss. A watchable film about following your dreams.
BERLINALE FILM FESTIVAL | Panorama 2026