Napoleon

UK Release Date. 22 November 2023
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 38 mins
Director. Ridley Scott
Cast. Rupert Everett, Vanessa Kirby, Edouard Philipponnat, Joaquin Phoenix, Tahar Rahim.
Rating. 46%

Review.

With a back catalogue that includes some of my favourite films - Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and The Martian - I had high hopes for Ridley Scott's Napoleon. But Scott's historical biopic of the former Emperor of France is largely devoid of substance and blighted by inconsistencies in a disjointed storyline. Overzealous and officious editing deprives the film of a fluid narrative, and transitions between scenes are clumsy and awkward, often appearing as unconnected, isolated vignettes.

Only latterly have I discovered that the theatrical release of Napoleon is an abridged version of a streaming-only 4 hours and 10 minutes version coming to AppleTV+ later in the year. Whilst the limited theatrical release will undoubtedly help to promote the film when it arrives on the streaming service, the 2 hours and 38 minutes theatrical version of Napoleon can't escape the obvious shortcomings.

Over the course of 25 years, Napoleon chronicles the rise and fall of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix), and his checkered relationship with Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie or Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). From the Siege of Toulon to the Battle of Austerlitz, the film catalogues Napoleon's military triumphs, often illustrating the strategies behind these violent exchanges. Rarely have such grandiose battle scenes been so insightful in terms of revealing character traits as they are in Napoleon. Scott executes the battle scenes with precision and customary visual prowess, but sadly these scenes feel disconnected from the rest of the film besides their literal place in the timeline of events.

Despite an apparent brilliant strategic mind, Scott resists glorifying Napoleon, instead viewing him as a curious figure whose indomitable ambition drove his every action. Reunited with Joaquin Phoenix - who earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Emperor Commodus in Gladiator - Scott and Phoenix accentuate the character's idiocy, insecurity and lack of self-awareness. For the second time in 2023, Joaquin Phoenix displays an aptitude for portraying pathetic characters [after his role as Beau Wasserman in Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid]. But Scott ensures the subject is held at arm's length, never once asking the audience to sympathise with the cuckold buffoon with a megalomaniac ego.

Counterpoint to the military skirmishes is Napoleon's relationship with Joséphine, which proceeds in an uncomfortable series of fawning encounters, dalliances and abrupt separations. The relationship is woefully under-developed and fails to establish any believable or emotionally resonant connection between the characters, reducing the complex relationship to a series of stilted fits and starts. The lack of chemistry between Phoenix and Kirby exacerbates the narrative dissonance and whilst Kirby's performance, is commendable in isolation, it feels like it belongs to a different film, once again underlining the film's inability to harmonise diverse notes in the disjointed storyline.

Ultimately, in its pursuit of grandiosity, Napoleon sacrifices emotional engagement. The visual splendour and meticulously crafted battle scenes, while undeniably impressive, become hollow when detached from a compelling narrative and well-developed characters. Only time will tell if these issues are resolved in the four-hour director's cut. Until then Napoleon remains a perplexing spectacle marred by inconsistencies - visually arresting but narratively wanting - and with a lingering sense of unfulfilled potential.