14 November 2025
WIDOW CLIQUOT ***
Feminism is not such a modern idea – there have been many strong, determined women throughout history. To note just a few – Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I, Madame Curie, Amelia Earhart, etc…
Let’s add one more, much less known for her exploits than for her world-renowned champagne, Veuve Clicquot.
This film brings the 27 year-old widow Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (Haley Bennett) to the forefront in a beautifully recounted tale of her tumultuous marriage to François (Tom Sturbridge), the young owner of the Clicquot family champagne company. It is the early 1800s, they are madly in love, he conveys to her his passion for the champagne vines and trade, and she is an ardent, talented pupil. After his suicide, as inheritor, she insists on continuing the Clicquot line, declining to sell to vulture-like competitors such as a Monsieur Moët, despite financial and family worries. The Napoleonic wars and the ensuing trade edicts create further problems for her, but she does not cave in to the many pressures around her.
This is a surprisingly entertaining and revealing biopic about someone many of us never knew existed. And it’s quite ironic that such a French tale should be told by the British – produced by Joe Wright, with Thomas Napper as director and a full English cast. Chapeau !
NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T 3 (INSAISISSABLES 3) *1/2
No, number 3 is not a charm. With all the hocus pocus, card tricks and (supposed) suspense, it’s still a dud and predictable, like the first two.
They keep churning them out. Seriously? Do they even make money?
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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