Haley Bennett stars as the determined widow who revolutionized the Champagne industry.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
In the British production “Widow Clicquot,” Haley Bennett, an American raised in Ohio and Florida, speaking with a British accent, plays the iconic French winemaker Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot. The film, directed by Englishman Thomas Napper, making his directing debut, tells the story of how the young widow Clicquot, fought her father-in-law and Napoleonic-era laws to retain ownership of her late husband’s vineyard and winery to create one of the world’s most celebrated Champagnes.
Napper was previously second unit director for 14 years on films directed by Joe Wright (“Darkest Hour”), Bennett’s life partner and a producer of “Clicquot,” which was scripted by Erin Dignam (“Loved”) and Christopher Monger (“Liz & Dick”) and based on the 2009 book by Tilar J. Mazzeo.
Playing the “Grande Dame of Champagne,” Bennett (“Swallow,” “The Girl on the Train”) is not bad. She is just not credible. When we meet the Widow Clicquot, she has lost her husband Francois (Tom Sturridge), who roams around his vineyard barefoot in flashbacks, sings to the grapevines and quotes Voltaire. Barbe-Nicole and Francois are soulmates, completely besotted. You might say intoxicated.
The only problems are Francois’ occasional psychotic episodes and the looming failure of his wine-making business. Francois completely relies upon his wealthy father, Philippe (Ben Miles), to bail him out of trouble. Philippe’s neighbor and fellow winemaker, Moet (Did I hear a pop?), would like to buy his vineyard. Francois and Barbe-Nicole have a young daughter named Clementine (Cecily Cleeve), who comes and goes (mostly goes).
The writers have written “Widow Clicquot,” using one of those temporal scramblers that some filmmakers favor. We are never quite sure if we are in the present or some recent past. If Barbe-Nicole is pregnant, that is a sign of the past. In the present, the widow Clicquot, in her widow’s weeds, is a brilliant, self-taught vintner who mixes her grapes to produce the finest champagne. Her dashing distributor, Louis Bohne (Sam Riley), who is, of course, completely in love with her, tries to find the best buyers and help her save her business. We know he and she saved the business because you can buy a bottle of Veuve Clicquot at your local wine shop if you can afford it.
Screenwriters Dignam and Monger strive to make the flashbacks resemble some sort of oenophile’s “Wuthering Heights” with Barbe-Nicole as Cathy, Francois as Heathcliff, and the vineyard as the novel’s misty eponymous moorland. We hear a lot about growing grapes and bottling and aging wine. But we don’t see enough of it. It’s hard to get very excited about Madame Clicquot’s determination to develop wine with smaller bubbles. Bennett, fresh from playing Roxanne in Wright’s well-received but unsuccessful 2021 screen adaptation “Cyrano,” strikes an iconic pose as the widow. But the film’s suspense is artificial since we know how this turns out. Sturridge’s annoying Francois becomes a complete bore. The daughter is shipped off to boarding school and soon shipped off altogether.
In front of a tribunal, recalling a witch trial, Madame Clicquot is interrogated by a panel of beastly (and seemingly British) men. She delivers a rebuke designed to appeal to contemporary listeners. Ironically, her business is aided by wealthy 18th-century Russian aristocrats who cannot get enough fine French bubbly. Bennett’s Clicquot has a steely sense of determination that serves her well against malicious males. But it appears to be her only quality, outside of the fact that she does not seem remotely French.
‘Widow Clicquot’
Rating: R for some sexuality and nudity.
Cast: Haley Bennett, Leo Suter, Tom Sturridge, Natasha O’Keeffe
Director: Thomas Napper
Writer: Erin Dignam, Christopher Monger, Tilar J. Mazzeo
Running time: 90 minutes
Where to Watch: AMC Boston Common, AMC Causeway, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, Coolidge Corner Theater, and other suburban theaters.
Grade: C+
Boston Movie News 