Aahana Swrup
In ‘Champagne Problems,’ Sydney Price makes the transatlantic journey to Paris to bring in an exciting acquisition for her company, The Roth Group. However, before relegating herself to intense meetings and competitive presentations, the businesswoman gets one night to herself where she’s free to explore the City of Love and Lights. Fatefully, her path crosses with Henri, a handsome Frenchman and a bookworm, who is more than happy to show her around the city if only to spend more time with her. However, the couple’s night of romance receives a rude reckoning the next morning when Sydney realizes that Henri is the son of TRG’s future business partner, Hugo Cassell.
As a result, in the days that follow, she tries to finalize her company’s acquisition of the Château Cassell Champagne House, while also trying to prevent the threads of romance around her, Henri, from unraveling. In the central couple’s love story, Les Etoiles, the place of their meet-cute, and The Roth Group, the company Sydney works for, remain two instrumental storytelling elements. As such, their possible roots in reality remain worth exploring.
Les Etoiles is a Fictional Bookstore That Adds Parisian Charm to Sydney and Henri’s Love Story
In ‘Champagne Problems,’ most of the narrative remains a work of fiction. Therefore, the worldbuilding around Sydney and Henri’s love story remains confined to the film’s on-screen story. In real life, there are no records of a bookstore in Paris that seems to be identical to Les Etoiles. Therefore, even though fans can find plenty of small and local booshops in the French city, unfortunately, there is no direct counterpart to the location of the central couple’s meet-cute. Still, Les Etoiles remains a fictional detail that adds a unique and grounding touch to the film’s narrative. As the story sets Sydney up for a Parisian romance, it intentionally avoids clichéd, tourist-trap locations, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Café de Flore. Instead, it opts for a more localized location to become the primary backdrop to the Holiday-themed romcom.
Alongside beautiful architecture and cuisine, Paris is also known as a hub for literary creation, either in the ways it inspires art or houses it. As a result, the city is populated with many wonderful bookstores, including ones that cater to an English-speaking demographic. Some of these include places like the famous La Procure, which has been open for over a hundred years, Shakespeare and Company, and more hidden gems, such as The Abbey Bookshop, A Café, A Refuge, and more. By inventing a fictional bookstore for the story, ‘Champagne Problems’ infuses some real-life authenticity to the Parisian love story while maintaining its overall sense of fictionalization.
The Roth Group is a Fictional Company That Serves an Antagonistic Purpose in the Story
Similar to other elements in the film, The Roth Group is also a fictitious addition that was created in service of the narrative. While there are a number of companies and businesses that share the same name as Sydney’s workplace, none seem to hold a direct connection to the on-screen private equity fund. The protagonist joins the company with bright-eyed dreams of helping small businesses flourish as a way to honor her late mother’s unfinished ambitions. Therefore, she invests a lot of faith in TRG, believing that the company has the best interests at heart for the businesses that it acquires. However, down the road, she’s exposed to a different side of the industry, where the firm’s actions remain entirely profit-motivated. This employment of the corporate, private equity world as an antagonist for the story puts the holiday romcom in a familiar thematic setting, allowing Sydney’s professional struggles to feel moralistic and relatable. As a result, despite being fictional, The Roth Group contributes to infusing a sense of realism and relatability in the film.
Read More: Do Sydney and Henri End Up Together in Champagne Problems?
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