2023-11-27 12:31:18
Paris (dpa) – Cannonballs tearing apart horses and soldiers, carcasses floating in the water under the ice: magnificent images of battle, interspersed with scenes of Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, who is six years his senior. Because the famous Emperor of the French was just as addicted to her as he was to his hunger for power.
In “Napoleon,” veteran Ridley Scott paints a portrait of Napoleon that draws a parallel between his rise to power and his turbulent relationship with Joséphine. He conquered the world to win her love, and when he didn’t succeed, he conquered it to destroy it, and destroyed himself in the process, the director legend explained his intention to the film magazine “Deadline”.
The 85-year-old shot a large battle and equipment cinema for around 130 million and brought Joaquin Phoenix in front of the camera again after 23 years alongside Vanessa Kirby (“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”). The Hollywood star played the supporting role of the crazy and merciless Emperor Commodus in “Gladiator” from 2000.
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Strict and gloomy figure
For Scott, only Phoenix could embody Napoleon. In “Gladiator” he created one of the most complex emperors in film history, he told the industry magazine “Deadline”. And he will create another one with his “Napoleon”.
The 49-year-old actor cuts a stern and somber figure on the battlefield – reminiscent of his Roman emperor in Scott’s “Gladiator” – while also playing the clown when he flees from politicians and looks deep into the eyes of a pharaoh’s mummy . Phoenix masters this paradox deftly and responds defiantly to Joséphine’s comment about Napoleon being fat: Fate wanted him to be here, fate wanted him to eat this lamb chop.
Scott is very familiar with historical frescoes. In addition to “Gladiator” with Russell Crowe, we also owe him “1492 – The Conquest of Paradise” with Gérard Depardieu. From “Napoleon” he has once again created a visually impressive epic, albeit with less haunting and spectacular sets as in “Gladiator”. It is in the battle scenes of Austerlitz that Scott’s cinema, which depicts the story as a machine of relentless human destruction, is at its most impressive.
Borrowings from painting
The epic shows battle scenes that made Napoleon famous: the victory at Toulon against the British army in 1793, the Egyptian campaign, the coup in 1799 and the Russian campaign. Borrowings from the imagery of the painters Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Léon Gérôme provide some visually captivating moments.
Anyone who brings such an impressive historical figure as Napoleon onto the big screen inevitably runs the risk of exposing themselves to the judgment of a broad public including many experts. As soon as the trailer was online, the first reactions came. Napoleon specialists criticized, among other things, the fact that the film shows Bonaparte during the execution of Queen Marie-Antoinette (where he was not supposed to have been). A scene with which the film begins visually impressive.
Focus on the characters
Scott has made a film on the border between history and fiction. The film is not a historical biography. He concentrates on the characters of the protagonists and their emotions, Phoenix told the dpa in Paris, where the world premiere of the film took place in the Army Museum. Napoleon’s grave is located under the adjacent cathedral.
Scott has long been interested in the man who became Emperor of France at the age of 35 and ended his life in exile on St. Helena (a small volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic). For him he is a fascinating character, he told the dpa in Paris. He simply embodies everything, the good and the bad.
Napoleon met Joséphine at a ball in 1795, where he immediately fell in love with the 32-year-old widow with two children. The wedding took place just a year later. Because she bore him no children, he divorced her in 1810 to marry Marie-Louise of Austria. Napoleon wrote over 200 love letters to Joséphine. Many are quoted in the film.
Scott constructs an interesting love and later friendship, both romantic and tragic. However, the relationship between the two, which forms the emotional core of the story, leaves you a bit cold. Little of the osmosis between the protagonists with opposing characters and ambitions comes across.
Two hours and 38 minutes is not long to cover the rise and fall of Napoleon in a detailed manner. A four-hour Direcor’s Cut has already been announced and will appear on AppleTV+. As the director legend told the film magazine “Empire”, the long version should be “fantastic” and also include more of Joséphine’s life.
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