Starring: Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, Ben Miles, Paul Rhys, Phoebe Nicholls, Cara Seymour, Nicholas Farrell
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 90 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2025
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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The story behind the Veuve Clicquot champagne family and business that began in the late 18th century.
In case the ‘Clicquot’ in the title did not immediately resonate, it would have been clearer had the filmmakers use the French for widow, veuve. And then the champagne connection would have been made.
At 90 minutes this is a comparatively brief film. It is reminiscent of BBC costume dramas – beautifully photographed, dignified performances, serious and even ‘important’ issues of the past.
This may well appeal to an older audience, interested in the past, wondering about the origin of the champagne and who the widow was. Audiences who like the drama to get on with it may at times be impatient.
Audiences such as this reviewer, whom the date for this history was not immediately at the top of memory will be grateful for a mention of Napoleon and of 1811. Which means that France is involved in the Napoleonic wars. This story begins only a year away from the retreat from Moscow (1812), which was followed by Napoleon’s return, exile, escape and final defeated at Waterloo in June 1815. There are some glimpses of warfare in the distance from the vineyards. But, there are also Napoleon’s social reforms, the Napoleonic laws, codifications, regulations, and, here, especially about the role of women, property, commerce and development.
This the setting then for Barbe Nicole (Bennett), the widow of creative but disturbed Francois Clicquot (Sturridge). Nicole is at times passionate in the flashbacks with her husband, enduring his eccentricities, grieving his death. But, she was a companion in his vision and talent for creativity in cultivating the vines, in developing the champagne, understanding the soil, the conditions, the blendings.
With the death of her husband, and a clash with her father-in-law, she decides to restore the impoverished vineyards. She has the loyalty of her workers, clashing with rivals, but engages the help of a career salesman, the pleasantly charming Louis Bohne (Riley). She stands firm against opposition, the men who are trying to dominate her, put her out of business, eventually bringing her to court, arguments about the Napoleonic law and the possibilities for women to administer the estates of their husbands.
This screenplay champions the creativity of an admirable woman who stood against hostile men, created a champagne that was sold all over Europe and favoured by the Tsar of Russia, and has survived for centuries. However, the audience might have appreciated her qualities more with greater development of Nicole’s character than is presented in these 90 minutes.
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