Widow Clicquot | |
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Directed by | Thomas Napper |
Screenplay by | |
Story by |
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Based on | The Widow Clicquot by Tilar Mazzeo |
Produced by | |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Caroline Champetier |
Edited by | Richard Marizy |
Music by | Bryce Dessner |
Production companies |
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Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 89 minutes [2] |
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Language | English |
Box office | $2.9 million [3] [4] |
Widow Clicquot is a 2023 internationally co-produced period drama film, directed by Thomas Napper, from a screenplay by Erin Dignam and Christopher Monger based on the 2008 book The Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo. It stars Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, Anson Boon, Leo Suter, Ben Miles, and Natasha O'Keeffe.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023.
Widow Clicquot focuses on Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the woman responsible for the Veuve Clicquot champagne dynasty, that began during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.
In October 2022, it was announced that Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, Leo Suter, and Anson Boon joined the cast of the film, with Thomas Napper set to direct from a screenplay by Erin Dignam and Christopher Monger and Joe Wright set to produce. [5]
Principal photography took place in Chablis and Reims, France, in October 2022. [6]
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023. [7] In November 2023, Vertical Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film. [8] It had a wide release on July 19, 2024. [9] Netfllix in the US began streaming the movie from November 16, 2024. [10]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 79% of 66 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10.The website's consensus reads: "Centering around Haley Bennett's sparkling performance, Widow Clicquot is a visually impressive tale of resilience that leaves a pleasing aftertaste on the palette [ sic ]." [11] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [12]
Christian Zilko of IndieWire rated the film a grade B, commenting that "by swapping Bluetooth headsets for bodices, Napper and screenwriters Erin Dignam and Christopher Monger were able to drape their movie in a period aesthetic that should appeal to the arthouse crowd. But from its eureka moment when Barbe-Nicole develops her iconic rose champagne to its final title cards about the company's ongoing success, "Widow Clicquot" has all the same beats as the walk-and-talk business movie that you watched on your last flight." [13] Zilko highlighted the film's mixture of "non-linear narrative structure" and "three-cheers-for-capitalism narrative" along with the "draconian laws" around women in business. [13] He viewed the film as mostly "interested in celebrating the booze industry and the people who overcome needless restrictions to innovate in it." [13]