One of the things about movies is we get to see films about people we may have never heard about. For all we know they could have interesting lives that make for fascinating films. That’s the case with Widow Clicquot.  A period piece about a widowed wine and champagne merchant in 1800s France during the time of Napoleon. I never knew a movie about wine/champagne could be so engaging. 

Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (Haley Bennett) is the recently widowed wife of a wine merchant. The Veuve Clicquot Champagne company is considered one of the best in the world. In the 1800s they had a few issues that caused them some problems. Trying to keep their family business going during the time of Napoleon wasn’t easy. Bennett’s character had plenty of trouble trying to sell her Champagne in France and abroad. Using a few unorthodox methods and developing new relationships helped her and the company stay afloat in a difficult time.

The director uses a few things to help tell this story. One of them is narration by Bennett as the main character. She’s filling in the rest of the story for the viewers watching. The second thing is flashbacks that tell the story of the husband who passed away from illness.  Francis Clicquot  (Tom Sturridge, The Sandman) gives a good performance in the flashback scenes. His pain and suffering is very evident in these scenes. The third is a courtroom scene that is brief, but effective in helping the story based on the book by Tilar J Mazzeo move forward quite nicely.

Two of my favorite parts of period piece films are the costumes and hairstyling. I love to see how good the characters look in period clothes and what kind of wigs or hair they are wearing. This helps me get into the movie a little bit more. The clothes are mostly colonial but it’s the dresses and hats of Bennetts character that stand out mostly. The dark cinematography doesn’t do the clothes justice that much, but there is good work that went into them I’m sure. The men’s clothes were good as well.

The film mainly focuses on Bennett’s character’s struggles, but it also has a good supporting cast besides her. Leo Suter, Philippe Clicquot (Ben Miles) as Sturridge’s character’s father and the owner of the champagne business, and Bennett’s character’s partner in the company. He trusts her, but not very far. Louie (Sam Riley) is a successful shipping provider. He helps her get the wine/champagne overseas during a period when Napoleon has blocked shipping lanes and overseas trade. These are the two main supporting characters besides Bennett and Sturridge. They both bring gravitas to their roles which helps the story better in the end.

I learned a lot about bottling wine/champagne and grapes, the difference between which grapes make for what wines, and so forth. The Comet wine was a popular one at the time, but it’s still selling successfully today. In fact, the methods Bennett’s character used back in those days are still used today to great effect in the wine/champagne business. I was genuinely fascinated by how this business worked at a time in history when everything wasn’t very easy to accomplish. This was an interesting story of this woman and her struggle in a man’s business. She proved a woman could survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t made up of a lot of them. 

The Widow Clicquot is a period biopic I never knew I needed until I saw it. Bennett is a good actress that has been on my radar for a little while now. Her roles in Swallow and Till have raised my eyebrows on the type of roles she is capable of doing. This is a little different than those two roles, but it’s equally good, and it shows she has range as an actress. She is an actress I want to see more in the coming years. I just hope more directors like Thomas Napper give her a chance in their films in the future.

Widow Clicquot is a good biopic. It tells the story of a woman, her family, and their empire very succinctly. It’s a quick hour and a half which is a good thing. The costume’s hairstyling and makeup were solid considering the cinematography is dark a lot of the time. I like seeing films about things I’m not familiar with and this is one of those stories. The cast is good with Bennett being the stand-out in the title role. Thomas Napper made a very good biopic about a family and woman that has made an impact on a specific industry the world is familiar with. I’m fascinated by these types of stories because they can educate me and others who watch them. Hopefully, viewers give this one a chance.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen