Mereghetti’s testimony Napoleon’s rise and love stories A portrait that does not fascinate (7½) – Corriere.it

Why a new film about Napoleon? Or better: how to tell Napoleon again after all the films that have already made it (the first was “The Napoleonic Epic” by Lucien Nonguet in 1903, which was followed by a thousand more, as stated in the subtitle of the book dedicated to the subject by Hervé Dumont)? The choice of Ridley Scott with his
“Napoleon”
tries to pursue three paths: reconstruct with a certain precision i Highlights of his rise and tell me in the meantime great love of the emperor for Josephine de Beauharnais Without forgetting the big battles that shaped his life, for better or worse military and political career. Maybe too much and I say that because in the end despite some Moments of great cinema As in the Battle of Austerlitz, there is risk never really develop passion for it neither to the private nor to the public Napoleon.

The film begins in 1873in the middle of the revolution, with the beheading of Marie Antoinette (Catherine Walker) on the Place de la Concorde: in the screaming crowd, only the young Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) holds his ground distant attitude (But historians say he wasn’t there to see it). Robespierre’s (Sam Troughton) excesses don’t convince him, he’s only interested in his own Military career and the occasion turns out to be the siege of Toulon by the English, in which he demonstrates his full strength strategic genius: It’s the promotion from Captain of the National Guard to Brigadier General, followed by promotion to General of the Internal Army Corps as he bloodily crushes the army Attempt by the monarchists to take possession of the seat of the Convention.

In the meantime he got to know it Josephine TaschenVedova Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby), escaped the GhigliOctober to Robespierre: The young general had landed there I can’t resist the charm of the woman who, in a scene that I don’t know how historically documented, explicitly offers him the graces she hides between her legs, and whom he will marry in 1796. This first part is marked by the dates of events and the script by David Scarpa (already used by Scott for “All the money in the world”about the Getty kidnapping) seems to suit the director One step away, informed about the facts but unable to really deal with them. And the feeling it leaves you with is that of a very specific person school coldwhat not good interpretations The two protagonists manage to heat up.

Probably Napoleon he wasn’t much of a lover But are there a few rushed scenes (no worse) where he seems to only care about getting his wife pregnant as a way to explain away her unhappiness? Certainly, Joséphine revealed it When he fought in Egypt and hastily returned to his homeland, he had them found the suitcases out of the house, only to then forgive her (historians say at the intercession of the woman’s eldest daughter, Hortensia de Beauharnais, but there is no mention of this in the film). But the viewer finds it difficult to explain this based solely on the images in the film devouring passion which makes Napoleon accept everything.

Until the moment the film shifts on the battlefields It seems as if we are looking at something unfinished, where, despite the length of the film (156′), we only see a preview of what may one day become a miniseriesperhaps to compete with it that Spielberg is filming Based on Kubrick’s script: I say this because the richness of the locations, the sets and the extras would leave you speechless, but they cannot exist alone a throbbing soul al-film.

But then Austerlitz comes with his Fight on the ice and finally find the Ridley Scott from “Gladiator», Il epic director of crowd scenesShots you don’t expect, with the perfect marriage between real scenes and special effects. After seemingly banishing him into the surroundings and customs, the spirit of the blockbuster gains ground and the Russian campaign, followed by the defeat at Waterloo, reconciles the viewer with the strength of the Great show. But maybe it’s a little late.

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