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\u201cImpossible is not French\u201d.<\/p>\n
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It’s a proverb as apt for Napoleon as it was for filmmaker Abel Gance and his occasional patron Champagne Brimoncourt<\/strong>. Located in A\u00ff<\/strong>, in a terroir classified as 100% Grand Cru<\/strong>, this house was relaunched by a former notary<\/strong> from scratch, and is now consideredone of the finest<\/strong> contemporarysuccess stories<\/strong> in Champagne.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Presented as an official selection at the Cannes Classics 2024<\/strong>, Napol\u00e9on vu par Abel Gance<\/strong><\/em>, considered to be the benchmark film on Napol\u00e9on Bonaparte<\/strong>, received a standing ovation last July from<\/strong> the 6,000 spectators present at the preview screening at La Seine Musicale<\/strong>, near Paris.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bought out in 2008<\/strong>, Champagne Brimoncourt<\/strong> isone of the sponsors of the restoration of this black & white silent film<\/strong>, released in 1927. Behind this choice are shared values and, above all, a bon vivant emperor<\/strong> renowned for his love of champagne. The House is planning a special cuv\u00e9e dedicated to Napoleon in 2025<\/strong>, to celebrate the 220th anniversary of his Sun of Austerlitz (1805).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some may criticize Champagne Brimoncourt for its split between monarchy and empire. After all, the House claims an identity inspired by the Regency spirit of the 18th century<\/strong>, which made champagne \u201cthe brilliant friend of fine tables, the Spirit and an art of living\u201d, <\/em>according to its website.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But as its buyer, Alexandre Cornot<\/strong>, a wine and history enthusiast with almost obsessive standards, had previously said, \u201ceven if it means getting beaten up, let’s have some panache\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A former naval officer by family tradition, this notary, who was once an art dealer in New York<\/strong>, had the crazy idea of relaunching the Brimoncourt brand in 2008.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But rather than exploit the existing, dormant chivalric name<\/strong> of a family of Marne winegrowers, he chose to start from scratch. \u201cBrimoncourt is our tribute [to] the cardinal values of champagne: elegance, sharing, independence and lightness. <\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His idea? To offer a champagne wine with a serious production style… but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously<\/strong>. This extravagance is reflected in both the concept and the design, borrowing here and there from the codes of great artistic movements<\/strong> such as Art Deco to create an apron offered in a gift box. “I’m sensitive to the artistic side of champagne<\/strong>.<\/em> It brings beauty, festivity and lightness to life,”<\/em> Alexandre Cornot told specialist media outlet Terre de Vins back in 2014.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A self-taught entrepreneur, Alexandre Cornot has surrounded himself with the right partners<\/strong> (associates, business angels, shareholders) to help him in this crazy adventure. The former notary disbursed 7 million euros to launch the business and a further 3 million to establish its headquarters in Reims<\/strong>, on the prestigious Boulevard Lundy. Four \u201cemblematic\u201d cuv\u00e9es<\/strong> were born: extra brut, brut r\u00e9gence, ros\u00e9 and blanc de blancs, later supplemented by vintages. These are made on the premises of the former Plantet printing works, based in A\u00ff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 2015<\/strong>, the House joined forces with Rothschild France Distribution<\/strong>, Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s subsidiary in charge of marketing the Group’s wines and those of its partners, such as Pol Roger. The results were immediate: production increased eightfold between 2014 –<\/strong>the date of the first commercialization – and 2017<\/strong>. By 2023<\/strong>, the House had produced 300,000 bottles<\/strong>. Distributed in France, notably at Monoprix, but also in Germany and the UK, before soon<\/strong> daring Brazil and Japan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The values of audacity, tradition and modernity that the Champagne House reflects in director Abel Gance’s impossible ambition<\/strong>, overcoming the mourning of his first wife Ida Danis, who died in 1921, and his Napoleon, a lover of golden effervescences.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Champagne, the elixir of happiness<\/strong>, issabre-rattled<\/strong> for the first timein the film, in the sequence for the ball given by Jos\u00e9phine de Beauharnais<\/strong>, where the whole of Paris celebrates the return to life and merrily gets drunk, after the years of the Terror.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Emperor Napoleon had a close relationship with champagne<\/strong>, which came to symbolize his era and lifestyle. It is even said that this great lover of the beverage had cases sent to his soldiers<\/strong> to celebrate their victories. The elixir was also served at the Emperor’s coronation, and at all the Empire’s banquets and celebrations.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For his part, Abel Gance also developed an obsessive demand<\/strong>, embarking on a two-year, 15-million-franc shoot<\/strong> for his film on the figure of Napoleon. The title role<\/strong> falls to a certain Albert Dieudonn\u00e9<\/strong>, fascinating with his penetrating gaze. In seven hours of film and 25 chapters<\/strong>, the French director and screenwriter traces the emperor’s wild rise from childhood at the Brienne military school to the first Italian campaigns<\/strong>. A genius inventor, the filmmaker multiplied cinematographic effects<\/strong>, including alternate editing, light filters and onboard cameras. We owe him the very first \u201csplit screen\u201d in the history of cinema.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The only thorny problem was that Abel Gance had not foreseen the advent of talking pictures<\/strong>, which meant that his film dedicated to Napoleon was almost obsolete by the time it was released in 1927<\/strong>. So much so that, of all the sequels planned to cover the Napoleonic epic, only Austerlitz was released in 1960, before his death in 1981.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A bedside film for contemporary directors such as Francis Ford Coppola<\/strong>, the long-forgotten film, which underwent 22 versions and five silver restorations<\/strong> between 1953 and 2000, required a major digital restoration of<\/strong> its seven-hour Grande Version, considered to be the definitive version<\/strong> as intended by the filmmaker himself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It took some sixteen years of meticulous work<\/strong> to bring this cineclub Napoleon back to life in 2024. Conducted by the Cin\u00e9math\u00e8que fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> under the direction of director and researcher Georges Mourier<\/strong>, with the support of the CNC, the rebirth of this silent masterpiece<\/strong> was made possible thanks to public and private funding, including that of the Maison dse champagne Brimoncourt.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A new 1500-page score<\/strong> (one of the longest in history) was created especially for the film by composer Simon Cloquet-Lafollye.<\/strong> It was brought to life thanks to Radio France and the talent and complementarity of its musical ensembles – the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Ch\u0153ur de Radio France and the Orchestre National de France.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Watch or re-watch this anthology film this Friday, November 22 at 9pm on France 5<\/strong>, and on france.tv, for 30 days. A screening at the Cin\u00e9math\u00e8que fran\u00e7aise is also scheduled for Saturday November 30 at 2.30pm. Last but not least, Potemkine Films is releasing the film on DVD and Blu-ray as a Christmas gift.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n <\/p>\nA champagne-loving emperor<\/h2>\n
A titanic fresco<\/h2>\n