CIFF 2026 Movie Review: Burgundy
Burgundy is the newest film from directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, the directing duo behind one of my favorite documentaries of the decade, 2020’s The Truffle Hunters. Burgundy is another film that embeds us in a specific, obscure part of society and lets us live there for a short time. But this time Dweck and Kershaw try something a little different, and unfortunately, it hurt the film overall.
Burgundy brings us to the Burgundy region of France. Dweck and Kershaw spent over two years embedded in the bustling wine country, shooting several people during this time, such as estate patriarch Bertrand Devilliard and wine critic Guillaume. Along with Devilliard and Guillaume, there are several other characters in the film, and each has their own little plot, like Devilliard wanting to hand a 160-year-old empire down to his grandson Melchior, or following a young sommelier named Céleste and her training as well as her blossoming relationship with an ambitious vineyard worker named Enzo. Dweck and Kershaw highlight the unique characters who make up this community. People like Guillaume, who got tennis elbow from all the wine he drinks and now goes to physical therapy for it, are so fascinating and fun that you want the film to have a sequel so we can catch up on what they are all doing.
Like Truffle Hunters and Dweck and Kershaw’s other feature documentary, 2024’s Gaucho Gaucho, Burgundy is a visual stunner. They once again utilize a static camera in one position and let the scenes play out. Scenes like Devilliard talking to his grandson about the family business while they play pool, or simply watching Guillaume do a tasting, are perfectly constructed and interesting. A sun-soaked winery with its endless rows of grapes and vines, rooms full of barrels, and luxurious mansions is a perfect place for visual masters like Dweck and Kershaw to shoot, and they did not squander the chance to make something gorgeous. Some scenes are constructed like a Wes Anderson movie, and others look like paintings I’d like to hang in my home.
However, Dweck and Kershaw tried something this time by adding fictional elements to the film, all of them focusing on the relationship between Céleste and Enzo. These sequences were inspired by the French New Wave, were shot in 8mm and 16mm film, and spliced together with a dreamlike quality. This doesn’t happen often in the film, but whenever it did, it felt out of place and forced. It didn’t add anything narratively or thematically to the stories before us, and the aesthetic shift felt too obscure. It also made Céleste and Enzo’s story feel fake or forced, which I cannot verify is true or not, but it gave me that feeling. Whenever we cut to them, I was taken away from the beautiful wine region, and the movie became less interesting.
Had Burgundy been just static shots about the happenings within the Burgundy wine region, it would have been another special documentary from Dweck and Kershaw. But their ambitions to sprinkle in fictional scenes hurt the film stylistically and narratively, ultimately making Burgundy their least successful film to date.
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