An epic that details the chequered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his w... Read allAn epic that details the chequered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.An epic that details the chequered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 4 wins & 38 nominations total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEugene de Beauharnais, the 12 year old boy who requests his father's sword from Napoleon in the film, became an able politician and military commander in his own right. Napoleon cared deeply for Eugene even formally adopting him in 1806 and making him heir presumptive to the Italian throne and Viceroy of Italy where he was de facto ruler. Eugene followed Napoleon on most of his campaigns. In 1809 Eugene commanded his own campaign with the French 'Army of Italy' beating the Austrians in nearly every battle.
- GoofsAfter being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon surrendered to the British on-board HMS Bellerophon. Although receiving many guests, he never met the Duke of Wellington face-to-face in real life.
- Quotes
Napoleon Bonaparte: You think you're so great because you have boats!
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits in the poster and vignettes of the film start with "Columbia Pictures and Apple Original Films present", but the opening credits in the actual film start with "Apple Original Films present".
- Alternate versionsSir Ridley Scott confirmed that a director's cut with over 92 minutes of extra footage will be released to Apple TV+, although no release date for the director's cut has been revealed.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Jeremy Jahns: Napoleon - Movie Review (2023)
- SoundtracksÇa Ira !
Music by Jean Françaix
Lyrics by Sacha Guitry
Performed by Édith Piaf
Courtesy of Warner Music UK Ltd.
Featured review
Knew it was Bad. Even so, Surprised at HOW bad.
I read the reviews of Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon' and knew it was not the great film everyone anticipated. Even so, I went. And what I discovered is that it's bad in the worst kind of way; It is dull. Lifeless. A flat un-involving story about characters who are in every way unlikable. Another reviewer wrote that he / she had trouble staying awake through its 2 hours 40 minutes run-time. When I read that I laughed. Now that I have seen the film, I am laughing no longer.
Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France did a lot of good things; much of the country's 'Civil Code' was instituted during his reign. But this film deals only with (a) Napoleon the warrior and (b) Napoleon the husband, and fails to deliver a well-rounded character in either sense. We know he loves France but aside from living there we don't know what drives his passion. His hatred for anything not France is clear, but the reasons for this hatred are never explained. There are battles a'plenty but the reason for them is elusive. Enemies become friends. Friends become enemies. We care about none of them. Thousands die. Somehow we care nothing about them either.
There is, in Napoleon, no one to root for. Making matters worse there is an uneven performance by Joaquin Phoenix. His 'later' Napoleon becomes a different character than we'd seen earlier in the film. And no, I don't think it is attributed to Napoleon's rise in power. I think it's Phoenix; his acting, his portrayal. His Napoleon is far less quirky as the film progresses (as though the actor wants out of his role), and in this way, he is far less interesting.
If there's anyone about whom we do care that character would be Josephine, Napoleon's wife and Empress of France. Vanessa Kirby is ravishing in the role. A rare beauty but one with a shadow-filled past as well as future. We can understand Napoleon's undying love her but the truth is, she's not the nicest girl on the block. There's little doubt that Mr. Bonaparte would never have 'won' her, were he not the country's future leader. So, again, no one to truly root for.
Ah, yes. The battle scenes. They're fine (though it seems as though a battle fought at the base of Egypt's pyramids was cut out). But I think fewer battles and more unraveling of the reasons behind those battles between France, England, Russia, Austria, and other countries might make the remaining battles more meaningful.
More involving.
Which, as I said, this film is definitely not.
Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France did a lot of good things; much of the country's 'Civil Code' was instituted during his reign. But this film deals only with (a) Napoleon the warrior and (b) Napoleon the husband, and fails to deliver a well-rounded character in either sense. We know he loves France but aside from living there we don't know what drives his passion. His hatred for anything not France is clear, but the reasons for this hatred are never explained. There are battles a'plenty but the reason for them is elusive. Enemies become friends. Friends become enemies. We care about none of them. Thousands die. Somehow we care nothing about them either.
There is, in Napoleon, no one to root for. Making matters worse there is an uneven performance by Joaquin Phoenix. His 'later' Napoleon becomes a different character than we'd seen earlier in the film. And no, I don't think it is attributed to Napoleon's rise in power. I think it's Phoenix; his acting, his portrayal. His Napoleon is far less quirky as the film progresses (as though the actor wants out of his role), and in this way, he is far less interesting.
If there's anyone about whom we do care that character would be Josephine, Napoleon's wife and Empress of France. Vanessa Kirby is ravishing in the role. A rare beauty but one with a shadow-filled past as well as future. We can understand Napoleon's undying love her but the truth is, she's not the nicest girl on the block. There's little doubt that Mr. Bonaparte would never have 'won' her, were he not the country's future leader. So, again, no one to truly root for.
Ah, yes. The battle scenes. They're fine (though it seems as though a battle fought at the base of Egypt's pyramids was cut out). But I think fewer battles and more unraveling of the reasons behind those battles between France, England, Russia, Austria, and other countries might make the remaining battles more meaningful.
More involving.
Which, as I said, this film is definitely not.
helpful•38467
- levybob
- Dec 2, 2023
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Đế Chế Napoleon
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $200,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $61,524,375
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $20,638,887
- Nov 26, 2023
- Gross worldwide
- $221,040,906
- Runtime2 hours 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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