In 1977, Sir Ridley Scott made his feature debut, The Duellists, which can be seen as a western set during the Napoleonic Wars, focusing on a series of duels between two rival officers. Afterwards, Scott would go on to become one of the most celebrated directors, going though not only other historical epics, but a variety of genres from science-fiction to crime thriller. However, with his latest feature, Scott returns to the historical setting of his first film, focusing on the very man who launched a series of wars across Europe in the early 19th century.
Napoleon Bonaparte has been a cinematic subject going all the way back to the silent era, most notably Abel Gance’s 1927 silent epic, which was meant to be the first of six films about Napoleon’s career but remains an extraordinary piece from that period of filmmaking. Whilst we never got to see Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon project, the historical figure has been dramatized for comedic effect as seen in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, where his small height is a recurring joke.
From being a historical force of nature to a parody of himself, how does Ridley Scott, screenwriter David Scarpa and Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the man himself, approach Napoleon Bonaparte? Opening with the public execution of Marie Antoinette as witnessed by Napoleon, the young army officer seeks a promotion, which leads to him years later to manage the Siege of Toulon, storming the city and repelling the British through artillery. As the French Revolution goes on, French leaders, including Napoleon, attempt to restore stability. Meanwhile, Napoleon catches the eye of Vanessa Kirby’s Joséphine de Beauharnais and the two eventually wed.
No doubt that historians will be upset over the liberties and lack of exploration towards certain events from Napoleon’s life. Fast and loose you can describe this dramatization, despite its bloated running time, as it allows Scott to revel in massive battle sequences. While Scott’s last few historical epics, most notably Exodus: Gods and Kings, have felt like Gladiator karaoke, set-pieces such as the Battles of Austerlitz and Waterloo show a scrappiness and a brutality towards the opposing armies clashing with each other, whether it is fighting the elements themselves, or being torn apart by cannon blasts.
While the film showcases what a brilliant battle strategist he was, and was somewhat admired by his soldiers, there is never an attempt to glorify Napoleon as seen in his personal and political lives that do intertwine. Having played a sniveling antagonist in the aforementioned Gladiator, Phoenix presents a performance here that is both sniveling and deadpan as a man-child who is really nothing without the power that supports him including his wife. While Vanessa Kirby is technically miscast to play Joséphine, who was six years older than Napoleon, Kirby still delivers a powerhouse performance where she tries to sustain her position of independence and even love towards her husband, even if their relationship was ultimately a toxic relationship that fell apart over French politics.
With a supposed four-hour director’s cut set to stream on Apple TV+, you do get the sense that this theatrical cut is rather choppy, in how it goes quickly through one event to the next, and no doubt a longer cut will flesh these sequences. While the film serves as a double header for both Phoenix and Kirby, more time with the ensemble cast, such as Rupert Everett, who chews the scenery with his stiff upper lip as the Duke of Wellington. Despite her name appearing in the opening cast, I don’t think I ever saw Ludivine Sagnier as the socialite Thérésa Cabarrus. Again, wait for the director’s cut!
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