Many great filmmakers have attempted to tackle the life of Napoleon Bonaparte but, like the little Corsican when he invaded Russia, have been thwarted by the scale of the undertaking.
Charlie Chaplin and Stanley Kubrick were both defeated, and to some extent Sir Ridley Scott too.
There’s a lot about his latest epic that’s fun. Some of the fight scenes are truly spectacular and Vanessa Kirby is cleverly cast as the beguiling Josephine, the second great love of Napoleon’s life after himself.
However, Joaquin Phoenix in the title role delivers an enigmatic, mumbling performance that leaves you wondering, even after two and a half hours, what Napoleon is all about. We understand that he is a military genius. We understand why he is crowned emperor.
Many great filmmakers have tried to tackle the life of Napoleon Bonaparte but have been thwarted, just like the little Corsican when he invaded Russia
Pictured: Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby starring in “Napoleon.” Photo credit: Apple TV
A scene from the trailer for Napoleon. Photo credit: Sony
And from scenes of strange psychosexual intensity, we see that he is fascinated by his seductively sexy, downright naughty wife.
But more than that, he comes across as a strangely empty vessel for David Scarpa’s uneven script, putting a few lines in his mouth that made yesterday’s audience laugh out loud.
“You think you’re so great because you have boats,” he snaps at an envoy from England. Irritable children were sent to the naughty level for less money.
As parents of young children know, you have to pick your battles. Scott chooses his with due care. Napoleon won more than 60 victories, but the most significant of his battles, certainly on this side of the Channel (where, conspicuously, we have no stations called Austerlitz), were the ones he lost.
His worst defeats came during his disastrous Russian campaign and, most notably, at Waterloo in 1815, which gets the full blood-and-thunder treatment in this film starring Rupert Everett in the role of the overly imperious Duke of Wellington.
The story begins after the French Revolution, when Napoleon, still an anonymous young soldier, was in the crowd watching the execution of Queen Marie Antoinette. Soon after, he demonstrates his tactical skill and personal bravery by defeating the English at the Siege of Toulon.
Pictured: Joaquin Phoenix in Napeleon. Photo credit: Apple Studios
Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix in a scene from Napoleon. Photo credit: Apple TV
There’s a lot about his latest epic that’s fun. Some of the fight scenes are truly spectacular and Vanessa Kirby is cleverly cast as the beguiling Josephine, the second great love of Napoleon’s life after himself. Photo credit: Apple Studios
The story begins after the French Revolution, when Napoleon, still an anonymous young soldier, was in the crowd watching the execution of Queen Marie Antoinette
I don’t know how accurate it is that the English troops were actually drunk at the time of this attack, but it rings uncomfortably true. Photo credit: Apple Studios
I don’t know how accurate it is that the English troops were actually drunk at the time of this attack, but it rings uncomfortably true.
In many other moments, however, this is not the case. I expect some academics will give this film a decided rubber boot, no doubt spurred on by Scott’s comment: “When I have problems with historians I ask, ‘Sorry mate, were you there?’ NO? “Then please shut up.”
That’s all well and good, but an English officer setting his sights on Napoleon at Waterloo is another laugh-out-loud moment, considering the French are about a quarter of a mile away and the long-range sniper rifle, as far as I know, I realize it hasn’t been invented yet.
Still, cinematic epics and historical accuracy have rarely been linked to more than a vague nod.
And Scott’s film at least explains Napoleon’s passion for Josephine, even if it seems fueled by nothing other than uncontrollable lust. This becomes even worse when, on one of his distant campaigns, he learns that she has taken a lover.
In fact, she is still able to torment him from afar even after his marriage was annulled because she failed to bear him an heir, and the Tsar of Russia no less.
But could it really be that a newspaper reported on her promiscuity with the headline “Boney’s old bird brought back from the nest”? If this is a dramatic license, it should be revoked immediately.
This film gains more than an hour of footage when it hits the small screen. So perhaps this will help us better understand the complexity of Napoleon’s character. But as far as epics go, Scott and Phoenix teamed up 23 years ago in the wonderful Gladiator to much greater impact.
For me it’s marginal, but it’s a thumbs down.
“Napoleon” hits theaters on November 22nd and will be shown later on Apple TV+