A rich widow has turned the vineyards established by her husband into a success, what with her wines winning international prizes. Meanwhile her private life looks rosy too : she has met an interesting middle-aged man and her handsome 25-year-old son is engaged to an enchanting young photographer. One day she hears a startling bit of news, to wit that a mentally unbalanced nurse used to exchange new-born babies, for reasons unfathomable by the normal mind. The nurse used to work in the local maternity ward. Is it possible that the pampered heir to the vineyards is NOT the pampered heir to the vineyards ?
"Tom and Harry" tells the tale of two families from different social classes whose children were exchanged. Thematically, it occupies a similar territory to the French cult comedy called "Life is a long, calm stream". However, the tone is far more kindly. The various characters too are closer to real people than to caricatures. At least here, no one is suggesting that the people from the poorer background are vandals, thieves and barbarians...
You won't hear me saying that the series is a monument for the ages, but there are some good performances to enjoy, together with some good jokes and one-liners. One of the puns is remarkably accurate, though hard to translate : "I'm just realizing that the word 'beleid' contains the same letters as 'debiel'". ("I'm just realizing that the word 'policy' contains the same letters as 'moronic'".) This little gem is spoken by Harry, a charming character whose philosophical pronouncements are a continuing delight.
In case you, dear reader, are asking yourself whether "Belgian vineyards" is some kind of surreal joke : no, we've actually got fine vineyards and excellent wines. (A lot of people are predicting that climate change will allow us to have even more vineyards, but I'm very much afraid this is a pretty fiction - in all probability, climate change will be accompanied by severe droughts and flamethrower heatwaves, none of which are good for humans or vegetation.)
"Tom and Harry" tells the tale of two families from different social classes whose children were exchanged. Thematically, it occupies a similar territory to the French cult comedy called "Life is a long, calm stream". However, the tone is far more kindly. The various characters too are closer to real people than to caricatures. At least here, no one is suggesting that the people from the poorer background are vandals, thieves and barbarians...
You won't hear me saying that the series is a monument for the ages, but there are some good performances to enjoy, together with some good jokes and one-liners. One of the puns is remarkably accurate, though hard to translate : "I'm just realizing that the word 'beleid' contains the same letters as 'debiel'". ("I'm just realizing that the word 'policy' contains the same letters as 'moronic'".) This little gem is spoken by Harry, a charming character whose philosophical pronouncements are a continuing delight.
In case you, dear reader, are asking yourself whether "Belgian vineyards" is some kind of surreal joke : no, we've actually got fine vineyards and excellent wines. (A lot of people are predicting that climate change will allow us to have even more vineyards, but I'm very much afraid this is a pretty fiction - in all probability, climate change will be accompanied by severe droughts and flamethrower heatwaves, none of which are good for humans or vegetation.)
