For such a famed historical figure, has made only fleeting appearances in movies since

Stanley Kubrick had grand designs for a Napoleon epic that went unmade. (Steven Spielberg is ). Napoleon and his bicorne hat B次元官网网址� more icon of history than a real character B次元官网网址� mostly only pops up in time-traveling odysseys like B次元官网网址淭ime BanditsB次元官网网址� or

The party, though, is finally on in Ridley ScottB次元官网网址檚 starring Joaquin Phoenix. Scott doesnB次元官网网址檛 do anything small, not even famously diminutive French emperors. And his two-hour-38-minute big-screen biopic serves up a heaping historical spectacle complete with bloody European battles and massive military maneuvers.

But donB次元官网网址檛 mistake B次元官网网址淣apoleonB次元官网网址� for your average historical epic. Our first sense that this may not be a grand glorification of a Great Man of history comes early in the film, when a 24-year-old Bonaparte leads the siege on the British troops controlling the port city of Toulon. When Napoleon, then a major, charges forward in the fight, heB次元官网网址檚 visibly terrified, even panting. He looks more like PhoenixB次元官网网址檚 anxious protagonist in than the man who would become FranceB次元官网网址檚 Caesar. Napoleon doesnB次元官网网址檛 storm the gates so much as lurch desperately at them.

And for the rest of ScottB次元官网网址檚 film and PhoenixB次元官网网址檚 riveting performance, NapoleonB次元官网网址檚 actions are never much more complicated than that. He assumes power cavalierly. His coup dB次元官网网址櫭﹖at against the French Directory in 1799 is a ramshackle farce. He flings his armies around the continent without the slightest concern. HeB次元官网网址檚 prone to petulant rages, screaming at the British: B次元官网网址淵ou think youB次元官网网址檙e so great because you have boats!B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淣apoleonB次元官网网址� subscribes more to the Not-So-Great Man theory of history. This Napoleon isnB次元官网网址檛 extraordinary nor is he much of a man. HeB次元官网网址檚 a boyishly impulsive, thin-skinned brute, careening his way through Europe and leaving battlefields of dead soldiers in his wake. When he, while on a campaign in Egypt, is informed over lunch that his wife, Jos茅phine (Vanessa Kirby), is having an affair back in Paris, he responds curtly to the messenger: B次元官网网址淣o dessert for you.B次元官网网址�

For more than 200 years, characterizations of Napoleon have ranged from genius reformer born out of the French Revolution to marauding tyrant whose wars left three million dead. Napoleon, himself, helped shape his legacy while exiled on St. Helena with a self-serving memoir.

Some of the titans of 19th century literature reckoned with him. Victor Hugo wrote Napoleon lost at Waterloo because he had grown B次元官网网址渢roublesome to God.B次元官网网址� Tolstoy, in B次元官网网址淲ar and Peace,B次元官网网址� was less impressed, calling him, B次元官网网址渢hat most insignificant instrument of history.B次元官网网址�

In B次元官网网址淣补辫辞濒别辞苍,B次元官网网址� which begins with Marie Antoinette at the guillotine and ends with Napoleon on St. Helena where he died at age 51 in 1821, itB次元官网网址檚 startling how much disregard the movie has for its protagonist. Hollywood historical epics have traditionally leaned toward aggrandizement, not the undressing of fragile, deluded male egos who exclaim over dinner: B次元官网网址淒estiny has brought me here! Destiny has brought me this lamb chop!B次元官网网址�

Here is a sweeping historical tapestry B次元官网网址� no one does it better today than Scott B次元官网网址� with a damning, almost satirical portrait at its center. That mix B次元官网网址� ScottB次元官网网址檚 spectacle and PhoenixB次元官网网址檚 the-emperor-has-no-clothes performance B次元官网网址� makes B次元官网网址淣apoleonB次元官网网址� a rivetingly off-kilter experience.

ItB次元官网网址檚 not always a smooth mix. PhoenixB次元官网网址檚 characterization may at times have more in common with some of his past depictions of melancholy loners (B次元官网网址淭he Master,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淭he JokerB次元官网网址�) than any factual record of Napoleon. A quality like ambition, youB次元官网网址檇 think, would be prominent in depicting Napoleon. He was a notorious workaholic, meticulously organized and an energetic intellectual B次元官网网址� little of which is present here, making NapoleonB次元官网网址檚 rise to power sometimes hard to fathom.

But thatB次元官网网址檚 also part of the point of B次元官网网址淣补辫辞濒别辞苍,B次元官网网址� which surely has some contemporary echoes. There are plenty of enablers along the way (a highlight of the supporting cast is Paul Rhys as the scheming diplomat Talleyrand) as the film marches through major events like the fall of Robespierre, the 1799 coup, Napoleon making himself Emperor in 1804 and the triumphant Battle of Austerlitz. The last is ScottB次元官网网址檚 finest set piece in the film, ending in a rout of the Russian forces as they flee over a frozen pond while the bombardment of cannons plunges them into an icy grave.

But in David ScarpaB次元官网网址檚 screenplay, the real through line in B次元官网网址淣apoleonB次元官网网址� isnB次元官网网址檛 the string of battles leading up to the downfall we all know is coming at Waterloo. (There, Rupert EverettB次元官网网址檚 sneering Duke of Wellington enlivens the military tactics.) ItB次元官网网址檚 NapoleonB次元官网网址檚 relationship with Jos茅phine that makes the main thread.

When he first sees her across a crowded party, he stands transfixed. Anyone would be. The slinky Kirby, sporting a pixie cut, rivals Phoenix for most potent presence in B次元官网网址淣apoleon.B次元官网网址� She has a complete hold on Napoleon, who turns out to be no more suave in the bedroom than he is among society. When he returns from Egypt furious from the well-publicized rumors of her infidelity, they have a prolonged fight that ends with her turning the tables. B次元官网网址淵ou are nothing without me,B次元官网网址� she tells him, as he cowers, happily. B次元官网网址淪ay it.B次元官网网址�

ThereB次元官网网址檚 a version of the film that could be wholly focused on their dynamic. Jos茅phine is omnipresent for a long stretch B次元官网网址� he writes her constantly from the battlefront in letters narrated to us B次元官网网址� but B次元官网网址淣apoleonB次元官网网址� never quite finds its balance in cutting between their life together and the military exploits. Scott is expected to release a four-hour directorB次元官网网址檚 cut on Apple TV+ after the filmB次元官网网址檚 theatrical run, which may offer a more calibrated version.

But the 85-year-old Scott B次元官网网址� himself a symbol of ceaseless ambition B次元官网网址� has made a film that, like his previous is a provocative takedown of male power. Scott has made plenty of brawny, swaggering epics in his time B次元官网网址� including B次元官网网址淕ladiator,B次元官网网址� with an Oscar-nominated Phoenix as the Roman emperor Commodus.

But even though not everything in B次元官网网址淣apoleonB次元官网网址� coheres, itB次元官网网址檚 appealing destabilizing. In one of the filmB次元官网网址檚 final images, Napoleon and his hat are in silhouette as he slumps to his death like a keeling ship, going down.

B次元官网网址淣补辫辞濒别辞苍,B次元官网网址� an Apple Studios release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and brief language. Running time: 158 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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