Film Review - Widow Clicquot (2023)

Last year opened up a new corner in bio-pics, moving them into corporate territory with Tetris telling the stories behind some of the biggest and most iconic brands of their day. But waiting in the wings for its UK release was a fourth brand-pic, one with an altogether different appeal and a sexier, more glamorous product. Champagne.

Thomas Napper’s Widow Clicquot presents us with a sweeping, romantic version of the story behind one of the most famous labels in the world, Veuve Clicquot. In late 18^th century , Barbe-Nicole enters into an arranged marriage with Francois Clicquot, the son of landowners with a champagne vineyard but with money problems to go with it. The couple fall deeply in love and she’s captivated by his unconventional and instinctive approach to cultivating the vines, so his sudden death is a devastating blow. Left to look after their young daughter, she strikes a deal with her traditionally-minded father in law to take over the champagne business and, while it’s a struggle against convention, the impact of war, the climate and the legal system, she eventually creates what eventually became one of the best champagnes in the world.

It’s a layered story, one which highlights the place of women in society and the challenges of wine production but business very much plays second fiddle to the love story at the heart of the film. There’s the relationship between the young married couple, softly lit, idyllic and deeply romantic, but one with a secret that slowly emerges in flashback as we discover why the family was so keen to find their son a bride. And there’s the love of the vines themselves, one which Barbe-Nicole inherits from her husband and which keeps her going, despite financial hardship. As played by the luminous Haley Bennett, she’s a woman of vision and courage who develops and matures right in front of our eyes, holding on to the love that fuelled her marriage but devoting it to her business. It’s the performance of a true grande dame.

For a 90 minute film, it feels surprisingly leisurely but there’s never a sense of it outstaying its welcome. Napper’s choice of Caroline Champetier (Annette) as his cinematographer is inspired. The photography is beautiful and elegant and its composition so immaculate that there are moments which could easily be framed and hung on the wall of any French chateau. But, while the film raises a glass to its title character’s achievements in the face of adversity, and Bennett gives it class and sparkle, the actual narrative falls just a little flat. It has to rely on the business side of the story to drive things forward but, while the obstacles in her way are many, they don’t have enough dramatic impetus or heft to make the film truly compelling and there are times when it feels like the director is more interested in the visuals than the storyline itself. It doesn’t help that the bureaucracy that goes with the wine business is drier than the driest of champagnes, whatever the brand.