The story of an iconic brand and a woman ahead of her time.

By: M. Faust

You don’t need to be a wine lover to enjoy Widow Clicquot, a British biodrama directed by Thomas Napper about the woman who developed one of the most celebrated champagne brands in the late 18^th century. If you are a tippler, you might have recognized the iconic brand in the film’s original title, Veuve Clicquot, French for “widow Clicquot” and still the name by which the luxury brand sells 1.5 million cases a year.

The title role of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot is played by Haley Bennett. She is also one of the film’s producers. When an actor co-produces a movie you can bet that it’s because the role is a juicy one. 

Barbe-Nicole is only 27 when she becomes a widow. Though her marriage to François (Tom Sturridge) was arranged, it was happy. She came to share his love of the Clicquot family vineyards, and at his death resists the efforts of her father-in-law to sell them to the Moet family. Although the Napoleonic Code generally wanted women kept at home, a loophole permitted widows to carry on the management of their late husband’s businesses. 

Her challenges are two-fold: to solve the problems of properly fermenting the Clicquot grapes, and to get her product to markets, especially champagne-loving Russia, that have been closed off by the Napoleonic wars. 

She is helped in the latter by the charming wine salesman Louis Bohne (Sam Riley) who worked with her husband. That Louis may also have been François’s lover is one of the speculations in which the script engages, but you’d be hard pressed to find a historical drama that doesn’t try to spice things up a bit. I suspect the final court scene is also a writer’s invention, but it succeeds in wrapping things up tidily. 

Bennett’s multifaceted performance is the heart of the film, but hardly its only asset. Caroline Champetier’s radiant cinematography captures the best of locations in Chablis and Reims. Praise is also due to Bryce Dessner’s engaging string-driven score.

Oenophiles who are intrigued but unsatisfied by the amount of hard information about the history and manufacturing of champagne are encouraged to seek out the book by Tilar J. Mazzeo from which it was adapted. But for general audiences Widow Clicquot is, at 90 minutes, a pleasingly trim and handsomely produced character drama about a woman who fought the odds and succeeded.

Now playing at the Dipson Amherst Theater.

M. Faust is a veteran film writer and a contributor to The Buffalo Hive.