Napoleon (2024)
Napoleon
”A personal look at a French military leader's rise to emperor, through his addictive relationship with his wife.”
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Why watch this film?
After two frustrated attempts to bring Napoleon Bonaparte's complete story to the big screen, one by French filmmaker Abel Gance and another by the brilliant Stanley Kubrick, director Ridley Scott finally conquers this curse with Napoleon, one of the great productions of 2023. His Napoleon, a production of Sony and Apple, arrives with all the pomp possible: it's an epic of over 2 and a half hours, with grand battle scenes that never try to abbreviate the journey of the French emperor at any point. The film begins with his victory at the Siege of Toulon, one of the most impressive battles in history, until his downfall at Waterloo. It's the complete life, supported on a very complicated tripod: the military front of Napoleon's life, with all those battles that shook Europe; the political front, with his unexpected rise to the French throne even after the French Revolution; and one of his most curious aspects falls on his love life, with a passion for Josephine (Vanessa Kirby). Right from the start, thus, it becomes even a bit obvious what the Achilles' heel of this immense Scott production is: the need to cover too long a period of Napoleon's life, who did too much in life, in just 2 and a half hours. Perhaps, a much more precise cut in the script by David Scarpa (Scott's partner in All the Money in the World) is missing, which ends up getting tangled in too much story to tell. It's politics, it's family, it's war, it's romance, it's betrayal. Fortunately, the cast helps to diminish the feeling that things are falling apart: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) plays a Napoleon who brings his insecurities embedded in his trembling and stuttering voice, always wanting to prove himself; and Kirby, who had already shone in Pieces of a Woman, once again delivers a magnetic performance, convincing as the seductive Josephine. Not to mention the impressive war scenes, which help set the tone and show that Scott, even if he occasionally errs, still knows how to make good cinema.
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Plot summary
A personal look at the French military leader’s origins and swift, ruthless climb to emperor. The story is viewed through the prism of Napoleon’s addictive, volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine.
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