Mixed reviews over Ridley Scott's "Napoleon"

This as the film's director told one critic to 'get a life'

Poster for Napoleon starring Joaquin Phoenix

At first I was excited about this film. But now, with so many critics and moviegoers railing against it, I’m not so sure.

One cannot have a Hollywood film come out in France about a famous French figure in history (well, Corsican) and not expect a raised, perfectly-plucked eyebrow.

‘Napoleon’ was just released in French theaters on November 22. But some screenings at theaters are playing it with French dubbing. (I’m sure French filmgoers would be horrified to watch it in its version originale, English.) I cannot tolerate dubbing so I may have to wait to see it another time.

I was trying to think about what the reception would be if a Hollywood moviemaker decided to do a biopic of Charles de Gaulle? Would people automatically be skeptical of an American-produced tale of the former French general and president? But a lot of Americans don’t really know what de Gaulle did, whereas we know about Napoleon. The hand in his coat, his iconic hat, and the ‘Napoleon complex’ when a small guy tries to be too big for his britches. But Napoleon is France’s turf.

Let’s not forget that another famous French person made it to the Hollywood big screen, Sofia Coppola’s ‘Marie Antoinette’ starring Kirsten Dunst. But it was far from an action film and focused on the life of the controversial good-time-gal Antoinette. However, it received mediocre reviews.

I also thought about the movie Johnny Depp did called ‘Jeanne du Barry’ based on the life of a French woman of the same name who was the mistress of King Louis XV, played by Depp. But that was a French production and Depp spoke in French (he lived here for many years while coupled up with the French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis). So it doesn’t really count.

I think ‘Napoleon’ may have been a sinking ship (pun intended) before it arrived in French theaters. One person posted on X (forever Twitter to me) a photo of an empty Paris theater, at one of the first screenings there.

X post from @agnescpoirier

Meanwhile, historians are going wild about this movie. Not in a good way. Some of them say Ridley Scott got it all wrong. Most say the costumes were fantastic, but in terms of historical accuracy, it failed. In response, Scott said of one particular historian’s critique, ‘get a life’.

…the official “Napoleon” trailer was met with criticism by TV historian Dan Snow, who called out some of the inaccuracies in a viral TikTok post. Snow argued that “Napoleon didn’t shoot at the pyramids” (the film’s trailer depicted as much during a peek at Scott’s interpretation of the Battle of Pyramids), and he said that Marie Antoinette “famously had very cropped hair for the execution, and, hey, Napoleon wasn’t there” (the trailer shows Marie Antoinette with long, frizzy locks). When asked to respond to such historical fact checkers, Scott was blunt in his response: “Get a life.” - Variety magazine

Many French film critics also didn’t like it. One of the websites dedicated to film, AlloCiné, polled more than 220 critics, half of which rated it between 1/2 to 1.5 stars out of 5. Yikes.

Perhaps what I need to do is go see it and decide for myself. My impression is that as far as action movies go, it’s not a bad watch. I’m not a Napoleonic wars expert, so do I need to worry so much about historical accuracy? Besides, many times I have seen highly acclaimed films only to wonder WTF the critics were thinking…

Some reviews:

The Guardian (UK) - Napoleon review – Ridley Scott’s sturdy epic only fully comes alive on the battlefield

Los Angeles Times - Review: Joaquin Phoenix plays a buffoonish Bonaparte in the lavish but threadbare 'Napoleon'

Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 61% with 200+ reviews

One more thing:

The timing of this film is serendipitous. It just so happens that a piece of Napoleon was just sold at auction for over 2 million dollars: his famous bicorne hat.

Napoleon was well known for his 'bicorne' hat