Champagne

It definitely incites puzzled looks when a movie is called “Champagne”, but what is even more puzzling is when an actual human being is called “Champagne” as the case is in this movie.

In this movie, the titular character, Champagne, is the wife to a man who earns a living by sleeping with wealthy women. After so many years of living like this, Champagne decides that enough is enough and urges her husband to find an honest living instead. During their effort to start afresh “the right away”, Champagne meets Douglas. Douglas, played by Majid Michel, is a rich entrepreneur who somehow manages to work his way into Champagne’s life. Suddenly the role is reversed but the couple is right back at the starting point the only difference this time is that Champagne is the one sleeping with others for money.

The premise behind the storyline is definitely very modern but somehow, in its simplicity, still manages to perpetuate the idea that women are easier emotional prey than men and that men are inherently detached creatures. This is because when the man sleeps around it is just sex and he is able to return home to his wife unmoved. However, when his wife does it she immediately falls in love with the other man.

Douglas, on the other hand, has a girlfriend of seven years who lives in the UK and is waiting on him to return and commit to her. Assumably the purpose of this extra hinge to the storyline is to establish that Douglas’ motives are questionable. In the end though, it just seemed like quite an extraneous add-on.

Much of the intrigue in the movie comes not simply from the novelty of the idea but from the suspense that’s created with Douglas’ character. The genius of Majid’s performance was that he was able to retain the charm required of the character while sustaining a certain degree of suspense throughout the movie as we attempt to find out exactly what his character’s plan is.

So on one hand there is this atypical couple and their open marriage and on the other hand there is the suspicious but wealthy Douglas and everything crashes down in a climax scene straight from a horror movie. However, the climax scene could have been set up better because it did seem a bit rushed. If the pace was a tad slower, the effects might have been more striking.

Alexx Ekubo and Rosemary Zimu played off each other’s strength and were able to hold the movie together in their scenes. Alexx is constantly improving as an actor and Rosemary does pretty well for a new actress even though they both could have definitely explored deeper into the emotions.