Widow Clicquot ★★★★

Released: 23rd August 2024

Director: Thomas Napper

Starring: Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, Ben Miles, Paul Rhys

The iconic bright, yellow label of Veuve Clicquot champagne ensures it stands out on the shelves of supermarkets and wine bars alike as a mark of quality. There are many Veuve Clicquot pop up bars and restaurants that can be found in a plethora of worldwide cities, accentuating the appeal of this smooth tasting champagne brand. Additionally, in 2022, there was the international Veuve Clicquot Solaire Culture pop up exhibition in celebration of the 250th anniversary of this renowned champagne, showcasing several female artists, all inspired by the entrepreneurial flair of Madame Clicquot. For summer 2024, there are Veuve Clicquot Sun Clubs with distinctive yellow parasols. All of this goes to show the exceptional legacy of Veuve Clicquot –  but, how much is actually known about the enigmatic ‘La Grande Dame of Champagne’ who lent her name to the Veuve Clicquot champagne brand and changed the champagne industry for the better. Step forward, a new biopic, Widow Clicquot – ‘widow’ means veuve in French, directed by Thomas Napper (of Pride and Prejudice and Atonement fame) and based on the New York Times bestselling biography of the same name by Tilar J. Mazzeo, to provide some insights in to Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin’s risk-taking journey within the male dominated world of champagne making.

Barbe-Nicole, strongly played by Haley Bennett as Widow Clicquot, is described as a revolutionary – it is thanks to her ingenuity that rosé champagne, being made as a blend of red wine with champagne rather than using elderberry preparation, became popular and that the champagne process became more efficient due to her riddling table invention, much to the chagrin of other champagne houses. As a film, Widow Clicquot is flirty, effervescent, sweeping and epic with a sumptuous narrative and mesmerising cinematography showcasing the panoramic beauty of the vineyards within the Champagne region.

Yet, despite its pioneering protagonist, Widow Clicquot refuses to focus wholeheartedly on the woman at the heart of these novel champagne making techniques and the Veuve Clicquot empire, which is a perplexing approach. Instead, disappointingly, this dramatisation charts the loves and losses experienced within Barbe-Nicole’s life to the point where her transformational journey seems somewhat overshadowed by the men in her life as opposed to highlighting her success as the first businesswoman. The result is a well-made but sanitised film designed to appeal more to lovers of frothy period dramas than lovers of historical dramas and champagne.

Under Napper’s lens, Barbe-Nicole appears to lack agency. We are not provided with her back story aside from occasional references to her family, the Ponsardins, and the fact that her marital union within the Clicquot family was arranged and possibly could have been a business alliance. Rather, there are glimpses of her past life with husband François Clicquot (Tom Sturridge), who succumbed to obsessions and would whisper to the vines, with all its joy and turbulence.

Indeed, Widow Clicquot is peppered with triggered flashbacks of life with the doomed François, who passed away in 1805 leaving her a widow at the tender age of 27.  Yet, Barbe-Nicole took over the reins and remained living, amongst ghosts, within the house they shared, alongside her young daughter until the age of 89, which in itself is evidence of her steely commitment to the Maison Clicquot. But, the extent of her despair and loneliness, without François’ encouragement, is felt acutely as Bennett, also wearing a producer’s hat, provides an impressively emotive, haunted performance. Continuously dressed in a black veil throughout the film and hiding in corridors or austere, candlelit rooms, but when we first meet her, as François introduces her to the stunning wonders of the vineyard, there are contrasting sunlit scenes imbuing that youthful enthusiasm and hope. These initial scenes are bound to make audiences fall in love with the land too and to empathise with Barbe-Nicole’s decision to be constantly visiting the vines and fighting for their survival. These directional decisions certainly work to keep audiences equally vested, at the outset, in the dynamics of the farming and the continuous, thinly-veiled, challenges to Barbe-Nicole’s leadership, as a woman, and her modern ideas.

Widow Clicquot is a cinematic tale with gorgeous cinematography but, of course, there is artistic licence utilised! During 19^th century France and that period during the Napoleonic wars, it was unusual for women to be at the helm of businesses unless they were widowed, this was enshrined in the 1804 Napoleonic Code.  Barbe-Nicole also encountered this struggle as her father in law wished to sell the business, following François’ passing and rival champagne houses, such as Jean-Remy Moët, wished to purchase the land. Bennett delivers a quiet but determined perspective within these moments of setback but the full impact of these continual pressures on her seems to be glossed over in favour of demonstrating neat solutions and love interests. However, this may be expected given that this is a Napper production and treated similarly to Pride and Prejudice with its romantic flourishes!

Unfortunately, Widow Clicquot does suffer from moments of detachment. The camera remaining static despite devastating wars occurring further afield, which threaten to impact the ongoing production of the Veuve Clicquot champagnes due to the blockades. During such moments, the dramatic score may take over to create that sense of urgency but cannot carry the substantive scenes alone despite Bennett’s best efforts. This creative choice may be due to the short runtime or the decision for the film to be presented as a ghost story but ultimately is a missed opportunity to understand fully the perils at that time. There were many dissenters who did not agree with Barbe-Nicole’s unconventional business methods or indeed did not wish to be conducting  business affairs with a woman but here these aspects are woefully underdeveloped. Keen wine enthusiasts may also feel short-changed by the film’s lack of detail within the winemaking process, as riddling results in that clarity within the champagne by rotating the bottles until they are upside down, which moves the sediment to the neck of the bottle. The removal of such sediment is known as disgorgement and therefore results in that clearness of champagne, in the bottle, compared to a cloudy, unfiltered appearance –  this is a technique that is still employed in the champagne world to this day!

Widow Clicquot also falls victim to the jarring decision of other English language biopics about French historical figures – Napoleon and Cyrano spring to mind – not to include any French words at all!  French romanticism however oozes out of every pore of Widow Clicquot – there are references to Voltaire, fields of yellow flowers in which Bennett is immersed and the camera fragments her body admiringly, unsurprising given that her husband Joe Wright is also a producer, and there are painterly compositions in the framing which are delightful to watch.

Despite Widow Clicquot ending just as Barbe-Nicole triumphs against adversity, this is a beautiful film to watch. Its message may be confused, at times, but it is undeniable that Barbe-Nicole made great strides in innovation for women within wine. To her testament, the Veuve Clicquot legacy remains strong with the Bold Woman and Bold Future Awards celebrating entrepreneurial women since 1972. There were also Veuve Clicquot bottles discovered in 2010 within a shipwreck in Finland, two centuries later, but their contents remained intact, further highlighting the quality in effect for the Veuve Clicquot range.

One cannot help but wonder what the style of this film may have been with a prominent female gaze but hopefully the advancements created by Barbe-Nicole for fellow women in business will be further recognised by virtue of this Widow Clicquot film.