Napoleon

Don’t worry about the theatrical release of Napoleon which is 48 minutes shorter than the “Director’s Cut”. The former is by anyone’s measure a travesty, the latter certainly meriting anyone’s short list of the director’s best films. Which in itself is saying not a little. .

An epic re-telling of the spectacular rise and fall of Napoleon I, born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica in 1769, a descendant of threadbare Italian aristocracy, who became the self-appointed Emperor of France and died alone, a prisoner on the island of St Helena in the middle of the Atlantic. in 1821. Playing him is a deservedly much-admired Oscar-winning actor known for his portrayal of  troubled souls; and in the director’s chair, Scott, a much-celebrated master of cinematic showmanship with a $US200m budget to play with, something which is reflected in the meticulous production design.

The original film was astonishingly disappointing with neither Scott nor Phoenix seeming to have anything of interest to say about their legendary protagonist. All the things that annoyed in the original have been fixed with the DVD release – the underwhelming set battle scenes, the gratuitous sex scenes and above-all the obtrusive Anglophone dialogue.

Time-wise the main concern of the film gives Scott the opportunity to stage a handful of iconic milestones in Napoleon’s military and political career including the capture of Toulon, his brutal suppression of Parisian insurrectionists in what became known as the massacre of 13 Vendémiaire, and his greatest victory on the battlefield, the battle of Austerlitz, and his disastrous invasion of Russia which decimated almost his entire army. It is a tragic story which appears to have brought Napoleon no pleasure

The latter is played by Joaquin Phoenix as a petulant anhedonic with mother issues (that he recorded in scorching letters to Josephine many of which have survived and which surely must have provided some kind of insight into Napoleon's private life

Scott’s film is based on a script by Stanley Kubrick which was never made. Apparently he and scriptwriter David Scarpa kept the bulk of script and played the remainder for its entertainment value, a strategy many audiences will question. Whilst as an epic Scott's film is no Lawrence of Arabia (1962 and also available as a much-improved “Director’s Cut”) Napoleon deserves the wait for the best streaming version available.

 

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