A review of, “Widow Clicquot”

The region of Champagne holds a fascinating history as it features a great many important women who, while not ignored, haven’t seen the protagonism they deserve in various media. In what will hopefully be the first of more to come, Widow Clicquot tells the story of Madame Clicquot’s life when she worked to establish Veuve Clicquot.

The film zeroes in on the point wherein, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin becomes a widow (or veuve) up to the successful release of the first sparkling wine under her direction of the winery. Much of this film is apparently gleaned from Tilar J. Mazzeo’s book, The Widow Clicquot which tells the larger story of Clicquot Ponsardin’s quite lengthy 88 years on this planet and her ability to build what is still one of the most important Champagne houses that now lives within the luxury portfolio of LVMH.

What’s interesting is that if you’re watching this as a wine person, be warned that there is very little wine content in the film. Yes, there are glasses and tastings and vines, but it’s considerably more downplayed and doesn’t get geeky. This is actually to the film’s benefit as it focuses more on the human story above all else which allowed it to reach a larger audience.

But there is a cost in doing this as the film only lightly touches on her invention of riddling the bottles for clarification (remuage) and hints at her blending of white and red grapes to create the first rosé Champagnes, but it fails to explain that she created the first vintage Champagne. All of these are crucial events to Champagne which carry on to this day and it’s a pity they weren’t mentioned in just a touch more detail.

When starting to watch the film, it struck me as a bit strange that everyone was speaking in an English accent, including Haley Bennett who is American. I knew that it would be an English-language film, but there was no attempt to make some kind of French-ish accent in English. That can be very hokey, but it at least alludes to the film being in France even if it’s in the manner of Churchill’s 100% Gin Martinis that he would “bow” to France for a hint of Vermouth. The film really should have been in French, but at the very least this mild attempt to fake Frenchness would have helped to suspend disbelief.

I mention this as while the film is shot well, there’s a cramped nature to it that doesn’t really transport you to Champagne. This shouldn’t be surprising to hear as it seems the film was largely shot in Chablis (and it looks it) as well as some additional shots in Reims, I assume for interiors.

I fully admit that I don’t know Champagne inside and out having only visited the region on a couple of occasions, but there was this sense that it actually wasn’t there due to this trapped, fishbowl quality to the framing that reminded me of “Milk“. This along with the period English accents really gives this “Downton Abbey in the Vines” quality to it that I found hard to shake overall as at no point did I find it easy to believe this was in France.

Bennett stars are Madame Clicquot and overall does a reasonable job of carrying the scenes. But, this really should have been a French actress as the historical period in which this film takes place really needs someone from that country to interpret it correctly. The male actors were overall quite muted and plain, again with this English period film kind of quality that deadened the story as opposed to livening it.

Additionally, there are these flashbacks to Barbe-Nicole’s life with François Clicquot and it seems that there were historical liberties taken with his death given that in the film it’s attributed to an untreated mental illness that lead to suicide. While more dramatic, it’s well-established that he died of a fever similar to typhoid. Also, François wasn’t running the company into ruin before he died but in fact had expanded it a great deal, showing a 750% growth in the eight years leading up to his death. It was in fact so successful, that they ceased all other agricultural activities at the time to focus solely on the wines.

I understand that the filmmakers wanted to portray the hardships of Barbe-Nicole in a starker light, but “tweaking” actual history is more than a touch manipulative as well as the fact that these flashbacks mainly work to drag down the pace of what is already a really slow-paced, plodding film. And despite wine taking time to make, there is no reason for films about it to be slow. Have a watch of “Ce qui nous lie” if you don’t believe me.

It seems that if wanting to focus mostly on the story of Barbe-Nicole, François should have just been left out completely. It would have given the viewer much more of a sense as to what she was up against if we just started from his death to see her cast adrift and having to take control of a Champagne house in what were quite difficult times due to the Napoleonic Wars and exceedingly male-dominated world of business.

While ultimately the movie is okay and generally-decent viewing, it’s something better suited for a long plane flight as it has the feel of a film shot for the small screen. It could also easily be remade with a larger scope and more depth as there’s an extremely compelling narrative here. How the film was constructed, it takes away a great deal of the agency and strength of Barbe-Nicole in the end.

I do however hope that more films about Champagne’s women will be forthcoming given that: Louise Pommery, Mathide Emilie Laurent-Perrier, and Lily Bollinger are all exceedingly-notable historical figures in the region as well.

★★☆☆☆