Napoleon (2023)

The Plot of Napoleon: We see Napoleon at the execution of Marie Antoinette in 1793 and thereafter he is tasked with taking Toulon from the British who are using the port. He is successful. Later he meets and marries Josephine de Beauhanais. We next meet him in Egypt and we are told he has conquered Italy. However after a while he is told that Josephine is being unfaithful, so he hot foots it back to France. In the political infighting after his return he ends up a First Consul and later is crowned emperor. He moves on to lead a French army all over Europe, taking time off to impregnate a young woman at the behest of his mother to prove that Josephine is infertile. In 1810 he divorces Josephine and later marries a young princess who bears him a son. Later back on the campaign trail he invades Russia, getting to Moscow, but loses hundreds of thousands of men during the Russian winter. This results in his exile to Elba. Possibly prompted by the news that Josephine is dying he escapes and returns to France, collecting an army and finally facing his demons at Waterloo.

Content: There is sex, but it is awkward with both participants remaining fully dressed, and Josephine giving no sign of enjoying it, despite vigorous thrusting. They also talk a lot, often from opposite ends of a long table. The beheading of Marie Antoinette takes place by guillotine. Thereafter when Napoleon is not pursuing, screwing or amusing Josephine, he is staring glumly into the middle distance while winning a number of battles, Toulon, Austerlitz and Borodino, with sometimes a bit of the aftermath particularly in Moscow. It all builds up to Waterloo when really for the first time we meet the British, the progress of the battle depending on the presence, or not, of the Prussians.

A View: The French critics particularly disliked the film, one saying that it was very anti-French and very pro-British. If I’m honest I found most of it dull. Napoleon seemed to lack opposition, typically we never meet any of Josephine’s lovers, or experience any tension in the battles. He turns up and he wins. However, we get to Waterloo which is stunning, and possibly worth the wait. Ridley Scott really knows how to film battles, and we are never in doubt as to the status of the conflict. I loved the galloping horses, messengers being provided with two, in case one was shot from beneath them.  The finale is worth the ticket price. Fun Fact: Historians of all sorts have been quick to point out deviations from the facts, to which Ridley Scott has unconvincingly reposted. But he seems to have got Josephine’s lack of enthusiasm right. Apparently Napoleon wrote to her almost every day. She, on the other hand, sometimes failed to open his letters