Ridley Scott, that great man of cinema who had the luck (or misfortune?) to put together three unforgettable masterpieces at the beginning of his attractive but also uneven career, such as The Duelists, Alien and Blade Runner, He spoke with enduring art about the Napoleonic era in the ancient, continuous, mysterious and obsessive duels between two officers of the Emperor of France. It happened in the beautiful The duelists.
Napoleon did not appear, although he floated throughout history. Infinite years later, Scott manages to portray the transcendent and deadly biography of that Corsican gentleman who set out to conquer the world and largely succeeded. This also obsessed the all-powerful Stanley Kubrick, but after multiple attempts he was left wanting to make his portrait of the great man. And, when it comes to a director like Ridley Scott and the protean personality of his biographer, you go with the hope of seeing a great show. For this concept to be complete, it is assumed that not only the eyes will feel admired, but also that what happens in the show will transmit emotion and other pleasant sensations. For my part, I admire how some of the battles are filmed, although this Napoleon, who appears in almost every shot, provokes both coldness and antipathy in me.
It is assumed that the mythological individual was very complex and that his turbulent history aroused terror as well as fascination. It causes fatigue for me. The character is twisted but never magnetic. As conceived by Ridley Scott and played by Joaquin Phoenix, an actor who is almost always unbearable to me, I do not care about his triumphs, nor his military failures, nor his methodology to become the master of Europe, nor the twilight of his ambitious dreams. His turbulent and eternal love life with the Empress Josephine does arouse a certain curiosity in me. Of course, because of the interest that arouses me in her, not him. Former courtesan, adulteress, back from all walks of life, incapable of conceiving that little Napoleon who would have fulfilled her father’s supreme desire: to have an heir to prolong his empire. That woman interests me every time she appears. Also the seductive performance of Vanessa Kirby, the actress who gave bitterness and sensuality to the young Princess Margaret in the series. The Crown. But spending two hours and 40 minutes in the company of the intense Phoenix exhausts me.
The script is not complacent with the character’s supposed historical greatness. In France they have been upset with the vision that Scott offers of this. Normal. His war exploits are described, but an explanatory poster at the end also tells us about the millions of deaths that they caused. Napoleon was a military genius as well as an opportunist with an enormous capacity to accumulate power. The empire of the guillotine is well told and how it not only ended up taking the heads of the kings and the aristocracy, but also the revolutionaries themselves.
However, there are fundamental characters, such as the sinister Fouché, who survived everything and everyone while always maintaining power, who are described with unforgivable speed. And the director’s visual power dazzles, describing the definitive decline of Napoleon at Waterloo or the disastrous invasion of Russia. There are brilliant moments, although in general I am assailed by coldness or indifference towards what they are telling me. I suppose that the character, his legend and his reality, will return to the cinema on more occasions. I hope with greater fortune. To take revenge for my relative disappointment, I watch historical films again. That is, the wonderful Spartacus. And as always, there are moments when I cry. It’s a great show, but it also moves you. Whether Napoleon wins it, defeated and alone on the island of Saint Helena, doesn’t matter to me.
Napoleon
Address: Ridley Scott.
Performers: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ruper Everett, Paul Rhys.
Gender: biopic. United Kingdom, 2023.
Duration: 158 minutes.
Premiere: November 24.
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