“Veuve Clicquot” is a very prestigious champagnewhich among us costs up to ten times more than a good national champagne. In France it is also expensive. It bears the name of its creator, and its creator has the fame of women who have known how to impose themselves in matters of tastes, progress and business, and in bed too.
Born in 1977 as Nicole Ponsardin barbe In a well-off home in Reims, she suffered with her parents the excesses of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, and married another young man at the age of 20, Francois Clicquotowner of some vineyards, was widowed at the age of 27 and while running the business, she endured poor harvests and gossip.
She also contributed several innovations in planting, transfer, flavor and bottling that enhanced her products, she turned England and Russia into her best clients by selling them contraband champagne on American-flagged ships, she made herself known to her competitors, so much so that they christened her “the grande dame of Champagne” (for the land where this drink was born), and died at the age of 89 surrounded by grandchildren, great-grandchildren and juicy bank accounts.
In a couple of portraits, Leon Cogniet He painted her as a matron with a dominant and contemptuous gesture. But cinema is cinema, and now, in the biopic “The Widow Clicquot”we see her as a sweet and fragile creature, victim of the evil of men. Correction: not so fragile.
Throughout the story We see her resist the proposals of her father-in-law, the administrator and Moett’s envoy (before joining Chandon) to give ground, until she is taken to a kind of sexist trial where she is accused of being inept because of her condition as a woman.and of being impudent because deep down I would like to be a merry widow. But that is deep down. The signature, the triumph and the independence come first.
The film (and especially that scene) will please the feminist public and the actress’s followers. Haley Bennettthe absolute protagonist. Not so much for the lovers of the drink, who will regret the little space devoted to the widow’s technical innovations, the negative image given to the father-in-law, who financed his daughter-in-law for several years, and Antoine-Aloys de Mullerthe cellar master who implemented and improved these innovations.
Bubbles and other details that would have made the story more entertaining and complete are missing. The essential merchant does appear, however. Louis Bohnepersonified with marked skill by Sam RileyThe photography is quite exquisite, the plot structure is somewhat capricious (the present, she in a black dress, alternates with the past, she in a white dress, to avoid confusion and better support the Tom Sturridge in the role of the increasingly ill and unhinged husband), and it is forgiven that, this being such a French affair, everyone speaks in English. But that is how it is, it is an American film.
Director, Thomas Nappera Londoner skilled at creating period settings on a low budget, as in this case.
“Widow Clicquot” (USA, 2024). Dir.: Thomas Nappier. Int.: Haley Bennett, Sam Riley, Tom Sturridge, Chris Larkin, Leo Suter, Ben Miles.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
