This is a very well done biopic. The cinematography is gorgeous, but of course it has the advantage of being shot in the gorgeous French countryside. The picture captures the look and feel of the period very well. The heroine in our story didn't cure cancer or advance the cause of world peace, but she did, against all odds, succeed in a very specialized and difficult business during a period of time when women were neither in fact, nor in law considered the equal of men as far as society was concerned. Notably, that business continues to thrive to this day and its product remains a well respected and globally recognized brand entirely because of her genius and perseverance. Haley Bennett playing the Widow Clicquot was well cast and she did a superb job in her performance of a strong willed, very bright young woman in an age that simply didn't allow her to be so in any meaningful way. I hope Haley has the opportunity to put her talent on show in many movies to come. The Widow Clicquot navigated extremely difficult waters in that time period and the character is tempest tossed by her husband's mental illness, her genuine respect and love for him, how she handles his all too early death, her determination to carry out his vision and her need to succeed against all odds. And that she did as this movie conveys to us so well. The man she falls in love with after her husband's death, portrayed by Sam Riley, was her late husband's best friend and business partner is a confirmed libertine who joins with her in the business when she picks up the reigns after her husband's passing. As partners, the widow and the husband's best friend become even more well acquainted over time and his extraordinary talent at charming wealthy clients are also the charms of his she ultimately cannot resist. That she declined to marry him despite her open admission of sleeping with him says a great deal about her spirit and desire to be independent in a day and age that definitely frowned upon and did not approve of independent women. This is a great period piece that tells a great story about a woman's triumph despite everything including nature being against her. If you like movies of this kind you will love this one. Definitely worth watching and appreciating like a good glass of champagne.

Interesting story about a female business pioneer.

A bit jumpy, excessive and not always relevant flashbacks. No great drama despite wonderful story. Underwhelming

Napoleonic 'Days of our Lives'. A turgid 90 minute exercise of sheer tediousness, moving from one scene of confected melodrama to the next. Take a minute to close your eyes and listen to just the script - it'll make you LOL it's so bad. Oh, and apparently, the War of the Sixth Coalition (1814) included a battle fought between French and Russian forces (replete with cannons!!) just over the hill from the Verve vineyards, 3km outside Reims. Wow! Better adjust the history books, now! Barbe-Nicole Clicquot's life story is worth the telling, an incredible woman in a man's world during the early 19th century. A person of great resilence and courage, her willingness to defy prejudice and flout convention changed the way champagne is made and built a wine empire in the process. Pity then this film plumbs the depths of every vomitous romantic movie-trope one can think of, the very antithesis of the subject it claims to represent. Ugh!

The focus of the film was not satisfying for me. Too much dreamy focus on her and her first husband, who seemed to have a mental illness. I was expecting how she developed the great champagne. The grapes, the process, the superior product. Unless you know the product already there was little to be learned.

When it ended so abruptly with so many loose ends not even close to being tied up, I had to double check that this wasn’t a short series and that it actually HAD just… ended… like that. Such a beautiful setting and powerful female icon as the subject and all was wasted on flashbacks of the husband in the bad wig. Very major hardships came off as very minor inconveniences because the audience never got the chance to witness the solutions due to how quickly the movie bounced from one thing to another and then moved on to the next chapter without ending the present. I had assumed the whole point of making the movie was to explore HOW she turned things around for the vineyard and became a leader in the industry, etc. etc., and we didn’t even get to find that out. Disappointing to say the very least!!

This movie sure has all the earmarks of running out of money and being told to wrap it up before the story really unfolded... too bad because the subject is a good one and now it will have to wait a long time before someone decides to do it right!

An intriguing historical biopic. Performances were very good - my issues lay with the direction and pacing, which seemed to drag at several points

I really wanted to like this movie; because I liked the book and beyond that, Widow Clicquot is a big character living in big times. The movie did no justice to any of it - neither her, neither her times, it was a small unremarkable forgettable story that even took wrong liberties with important facts. Her champagne and her character deserve so much better and bigger art.

Slow but steady and subtle. Very French..and a good look into the Napoleanic period...good movie, worth the watch. Good insight into the Champagne too!

Very slow to develop and then it bounces around in time, and worst of all one has no idea how it ends. That all being said, beautiful depiction of the Champagne region of France, good acting and a very interesting story about the best champagne in the world.

Boring, overacted, boring, and unrealistic.

Haley Bennet absolutely crushed! Phenomenal performance and movie. Very inspiring movie

Well, what can I say?! I am no fan of epoch pieces, but sometimes even I get taken in. I really can't take all those stories of "The House of .... this and that", as they are normally boring chit-chat. But the trailer already intrigued me as I love movies about a woman's success story (or her revenge). The movie seems a bit like a narrated book, and though I mostly dislike flashbacks, here they are most adequate and perfectly alined (except one). The director thus produced quite an outstanding work about a most extraordinary woman, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, with an incredible passion, vision and most of all, bigger balls than all her adversaries of her time together, especially considering that it was the beginning of the nineteenth century. Gosh, what a woman! I don't drink champagne (neither wine), but anyone enjoying a good glass of champagne once in a while should pay tribute to this lady as all champagnes nowadays are produced according to her, for her time beyond acceptance, modern ideas. It's a captivating story with so much content, detail and information that the movie seems to be a lot longer than its mere 89 minutes; and surely not because it is boring. Instead it's well guided by the script and the director. 7 1/2 points out of 10 with most going to this incredible woman as the movie is based on real events!

I looked forward to watching a film about the incredible discoveries, regarding champagne, made by Madame Cliquot. The total remuage method of removing sediment from a bottle, not just turning a bottle. The fact that she was the first person to produce a vintage champagne, the fact that she was the first person to produce a rosé wine, not just a fleeting referral to it. Instead I watched a film that was mainly centred on her sex life. The cinematography was dull and dark, the vineyards not shown in their best light at all. No vibrant colours that are present at the harvest and the actress playing the widow was one dimensional, who, for me, did not portray the strong woman that she was. I was bored and disappointed.

hard to follow. Easily forgotten.

The plot is simple: a stubborn woman innovates her company and succeeds against all odds. Yet there was no need to infuse it with all-too-familiar clichés, such as prejudice against women in power, the myth of the lone genius, the value of collaboration over hierarchy, and, of course, hard work always wins... I found the dialogues completely out of context for a 19th century society. Not even Haley Bennet's beauty could overturn an ugly filmic aesthetic that managed to turn the French countryside into a sad, discolored picture of itself.

Is it just me or did this movie completely skip everything that would have been really interesting to know about this fascinating woman? What about the glass? Why did all of the champagne bottles explode? Why are we never taught anything substantive about the making of champagne? It is all so vague much to its demise. There was a missed opportunity here to make something really, really good.

Wonderful acting. Great history. Engaging.

Strange ending? Such is life