2023-11-22 01:00:00
Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby and Tahar Rahim revisit the story of Napoleon in front of Ridley Scott’s cameras.
We will find, from the opening scene of the execution of Marie-Antoinette, similarities with her remarkable The last duelthe treatment reserved for women and the deconstruction of patriarchy being favorite subjects, sometimes implicitly, of the brilliant 85-year-old filmmaker.
As Ridley Scott is not afraid of attracting the wrath of the French, the Briton dares to carry out numerous historical rewritings, from the execution of Marie-Antoinette which Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) never witnessed until the age of Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), who, however, was older than her illustrious husband, passing by the pyramids, against which the future emperor never thundered his cannons or the age of Joaquin Phoenix, almost double of that of Napoleon at the moment when the feature film opens.
But it does not matter. Ridley Scott is not known for his respect for historical truth and we understand the artistic liberties taken by the filmmaker. Because the biographical part of Napoleon is just an excuse. That of telling in 157 minutes a love story which, at the beginning of the 19th century, defied conventions. That, too, of filming the general then the emperor on the battlefields which made his glory – including the defeats –, from the capture of Toulon to the conquest of Egypt to that of Russia, one of the the most memorable scenes being that of English horsemen trapped in the icy waters of a pond.
Because, as we know, fights are the director’s trademark. Just remember Gladiator, The fall of the Black Falcon, The kingdom of heaven, Robin Hood and so many others. For Ridley Scott, Napoleon can be explained by his excessive desire for conquest and therefore by his battles. We will therefore know nothing about his childhood, his reforms of French society or his political maneuvers, the screenplay by David Scarpa (All the money in the world by Ridley Scott, but also the very bad The day the Earth stood still of 2008) not dwelling on these details, which are nevertheless essential to understanding the man who crowned himself emperor in 1804.
Rumors are circulating that the director’s cut (director’s cut), which is said to be an hour longer, could premiere on AppleTV+ next year. Will this extra hour add what is so sorely lacking? Not sure. To do this, we need to return to Napoleon by Abel Gance, which, with its five and a half hours, offers an epic like no other… in black and white and in silent, the film dating from 1927.
Napoleon hits theaters on November 22.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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