Widow Cliquot (12A) |Close-Up Film Review
Cast: Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, Ben Miles
Review by Carol Allen
Around the beginning of the 19th century 26 year old Barbe Nicole Ponsardin-Clicquot (Haley Bennett) is widowed when her husband Francois (Tom Sturridge) unexpectedly dies and she inherits the vineyard, where they were together nurturing the vine that would eventually produce the now famous brand that bears their name.
The men in the family, including Francois’ father Phillipe (Ben Miles) want her to sell the vineyard – “We’ve had a good offer from Moet”, he tells her. But the widow defies convention and elects to continue her late husband’s business herself. She is supported by wine merchant Louis Bohne (Sam Riley), who becomes her head of sales as it were and after a time also her lover and after overcoming many obstacles – weather challenges, the Napoleonic wars and a rather late in the day court case, where the Cliquot men try take over – both the widow and Veuve Cliquot champagne triumph.
It’s a good story of early female success and triumph over the odds. Filmed in rural France by cinematographer Caroline Champetier, it also looks good. Co-producer with Bennett herself is Joe Wright, who’s rather good at this sort of period drama. Sturridge as Francois, in the many flashbacks of their marriage, turns out to be rather more interesting than the ideal husband we at first assume him to have been and Riley is appropriately strong and sexy as Louis.
Despite all those good things though the film is rather dull and strangely predictable. A bit of a plod in fact. It’s an American production with some good actors but the veuve herself lacks verve. Bennett as Barbe Nicole is rather impassive throughout, showing little passion or distress, which may be true to how French country business women can be, but doesn’t give us much in the way of involvement in her reaction to the various challenges her character faces.
We know from the beginning that la Veuve Cliquot is going to win through – we’ve drank the champagne! – but the journey towards the triumph of the wine and the widow is rather like painting by numbers, failing to give us much in the way of involvement in her reaction to the various challenges her character faces. Stoicism may be a useful virtue but it’s not that cinematic or dramatic. Maybe the film would have had more fizz had it been made by the French with a French actress in the lead?
