Napoleon Bonaparte is probably the most famous Frenchman of all time and is, according to academic sources, second only to Jesus as the most filmed figure in cinema history. Napoleon is a complex subject whose aura, monstrosity and genius is a perfect fit for great cinema and who is therefore an irresistible challenge for any serious film-maker. Little wonder then that Ridley Scott, who is now 85 years old, and whose long and prolific career includes many big, sweeping movies, has finally succumbed to the lure of the “little corporal” from Corsica.
General Bonaparte on the bridge at Arcole, 17 November, 1796; Versailles, Musée National du Château
Napoleon is due in cinemas at the end of the month with Joaquin Phoenix in the leading role and a soundtrack which includes Black Sabbath (their classic dirge War Pigs) and a slowed-down Radiohead cover (The National Anthem – another dirge).
According to the publicity, it promises to tell the life of Napoleon through his tortured love affair with his wife, Joséphine, his own jealousies and obsessions, as well as his master-plan to conquer Europe. From the trailers, it looks like another epic in the mould of Scott’s Gladiator, with at least some of the gripping battle scenes that are his trademark.
By making a film on Napoleon, Scott is, of course, making his own bid for greatness. He is placing himself in a lineage which can be traced back almost to the invention of cinema when, in 1897, Louis Lumière produced a short film which depicted Napoleon arguing with Pope Pius VII – based on their real-life encounter in 1804 when Napoleon, in a tantrum, tried to convince the pontiff to move the papal throne to Paris….
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/12/ridley-scott-film-napoleon-bonaparte-josephine
After the truth-shower 