The character of the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte is still problematic in evaluating and monitoring the facts related to him, leading to emotional melodrama that accompanied the most important moments of his life and almost overshadowed his conquests and victories in more than one field.
Beirut cinemas, as well as their counterparts in America, Britain and France, received the film on November 22nd, and the French reaction was quick, with many comments recorded on the context of the tape and part of its content related to the battles that Napoleon fought, and the details of the ambiguous relationship with his lover, Josephine, who was embodied by the star Vanessa. Kirby, while not criticizing Joaquin Phoenix’s character Napoleon.
Director Ridley Scott responded to the French dissatisfaction with the film by saying: The French do not love themselves. In his interview with Deadline magazine, he added: Napoleon conquered the world in order to win the love of Josephine Duboiret, and when he did not succeed, he launched another invasion in order to destroy her, and in the process Napoleon destroyed himself.
Scott confirmed: He crowned himself Emperor of France at the age of 35, and spent his last days in exile on the small island of St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Emperor is a wonderful character who combines everything good and evil.
The film begins with the scene of the execution of Queen Marie Antoinette, and Phoenix described the film by saying that it focuses on the main characters and their situations. The actor returns to stand in front of Scott’s camera again 23 years after his participation in Gladiater, and the director said about him: Phoenix is the only one capable of embodying the role of Napoleon.
It is known that the French leader divorced Josephine after years of marriage because she did not have children from him, so he married the Austrian Marie Louise. He wrote more than 200 letters to Josephine, a large number of which the film reviewed.
The duration of the film on screen is 158 minutes, but the “Apple TV Plus” platform will show a 4-hour version of the film, which Scott described as: wonderful, and it contains details about Josephine’s life. The screenplay was written by David Scarpa, and in addition to the two leads: Tahar Rahim, Robert Everett, Marc Bonnar, Paul Reis, Ben Miles, Rihanna Doss, Ludvine Sannier, Edward Philippon, and Moroccan Youssef Karkour.
