2/5
Napoleon Bonaparte famously said that “history is a set of lies agreed upon.” Ridley Scott certainly agrees, evidenced by the way his Napoleon plays fast and loose with the facts. The director knows better than most that something as trivial as ‘history’ shouldn’t get in the way of a good story — Gladiator doesn’t win points for accuracy but its certainly exciting. And with Joaquin Phoenix on board again, it feels like a recipe for success. Unfortunately, after a relatively strong start, things go about as well as invading Russia in winter. Some of the battle sequences are impressive but the story connecting them is muddled, and the tone is all over the place. Vanessa Kirby deserves a mention for her strong performance as Napoleon’s first wife Josephine, but she can’t pull this film out of the mud on her own.
Telling Napoleon’s story in film is a Herculean task: some versions of Abel Gance’s silent-era masterpiece clock in at five hours, and Stanley Kubrick spent decades researching a film that never got off the ground. Napoleon was born in 1769 and was exiled to Saint Helena in 1815. To get around this vast timescale, Napoleon focuses on his relationship with Josephine as a thread with which to pull us along. However, as a result some of the historical context is lost, making for a disorientating viewing experience. Their relationship is a turbulent one: there are spats, food fights, and rutting under the dinner table. The point made is that, in private the great man was insecure and petulant. That’s an interesting point, but its not developed further — the characters are mostly static.
The battle scenes are one of the main reasons why we’re here, and a thrilling nighttime attack at the Siege of Toulon starts things with a bang. The violence is suitably horrific and there are hints shown of Napoleon’s burgeoning tactical brilliance. Compared to this, the Battle of Austerlitz feels like a letdown. The scene is beautiful, with charging armies silhouetted against the white snow. But the feeling, watching what is arguably Napoleon’s greatest achievement on the battlefield, is one of anticlimax. It seems Scott is so invested in the visual pay-off of soldiers plunging to their deaths as artillery shells a frozen lake, that he rushes too quickly to get there, without setting up the tension beforehand. This problem is partly a narrative one, as Austerlitz and other key moments pop out of nowhere. We aren’t told why there is a battle, or why it is so important. As a result, it never really feels like anything is at stake when the guns are firing. The film feels directionless, a montage of events seemingly plucked at random from Napoleon’s life.
There are other moments with great visual flourish, such as Napoleon’s coronation as emperor and the burning of Moscow. Here, we really feel the scale of the historical events unfolding. But for the most part the spectacle is spoiled by the cold blue filter used in almost every scene — a baffling choice for an era when military uniforms were at their most vibrant. This is even stranger when one considers Scott’s very first film — The Duelists — a beautifully shot Napoleonic-era story, which at times looks like a painting brought to life.
The dialogue is often cringe-inducing. How did they let that line about boats get through? And why does someone reference the “succulent Chinese meal” during Napoleon’s coup? The intent here is to poke fun at Napoleon the Great Man, and to remove the veil of seriousness from history by playing up the farcical nature of many world-changing events. Some moments work — I particularly liked the scene showing the Coup of 18th Brumaire, when Napoleon finds himself running for his life from a mob of angry Jacobins. But overall, the film strives too hard for irreverence — it feels like Scott and writer David Scarpa can’t decide if they want to make The Favourite or Sergey Bondarchuck’s Waterloo. Speaking of Waterloo, a moment of praise here for Rupert Everett as General Wellington, who appears to be having the time of his life and utterly steals the show.
Much has been made of the film’s historical inaccuracies, and Scott’s bullish (and hilarious) responses to these accusations. The problem is that these moments of ‘artistic license,’ like firing a cannonball at the pyramids, do nothing to improve the story.Take the decision to bring Josephine’s death back in time, to the Hundred Days, when Napoleon has returned from exile to reclaim power. In reality, Josephine died whilst Napoleon was in exile on the island of Elba. Would it not have been more emotionally powerful for him to learn of his great love passing away whilst he is marooned and isolated?
The Waterloo scene is pants-on-head levels of stupid, with Napoleon personally leading a cavalry charge and a sniper (what is this? Call of Duty: Napoleon?) managing to shoot through his famous bicorne hat. This absurdity would be forgivable in a better film. It’s worth a comparison here to Gladiator. Most history enthusiasts know that Emperor Commodus wasn’t killed by a gladiator in the Colosseum, but we don’t care because the film is tremendously good fun and has characters we care about.
Cinema is not history, but the best historical films can convey the ‘spirit’ of an age, or a person. I learnt very little about Napoleon from this film. What drove him to conquer most of Europe? Why were so many people inspired by him, and willing to lay down their lives for him? A man famously described by Hegel as “the world-spirit on horseback” often seems like nothing more than a bloke in the right place at the right time, the whole ‘emperor’ thing just an idea his brother and Talleyrand cooked up one day for the hell of it. Watching Phoenix, one does not feel that we are witnessing the most brilliant military commander of the age (possibly of any age). It’s one of those rare films which might actually benefit from being longer (a four hour version is on its way), to improve the confusing pacing. It’s not a completely awful film, just wasted potential. It might not be the epic we wanted, but its perfect fodder for when you get back from the pub and decide to watch whatever’s on ITV2 whilst you sober up.
Looking for more films like this? Check out: The Duellists, Barry Lyndon, Master & Commander, Waterloo
Mark It Zero 