As one of the most anticipated blockbusters this year, "Napoleon" performed mediocre at the box office two weeks after its release in the United States, with only a 6.7 rating on IMDB. It was just released in mainland China last weekend, and its Douban score was only 6.6, so it won't have a very eye-catching performance at the box office.
But overall, this is still a work that can be watched in the cinema. First, as a "film art", even if it lacks too many exciting passages, the overall artistic and technical expression of the film is still impeccable, and the war scenes are shocking; on the other hand, it is a reflection of Napoleon, a man of great influence. Life, the film is highly condensed into a length of 2 and a half hours, allowing the audience to have a general understanding of the unique life of this historical figure in the shortest possible time.
The main poster of the film in mainland China has a more red-based passion compared to the coldness of the American and French versions. I wonder if it wants the audience to experience a sense of struggle of the "Great Revolution".
It is necessary to introduce director Ridley Scott first. This old director, who was born and educated in the UK, is over 85 years old this year, but he is still working on the front line. When he was 40 years old, he filmed "Alien" and "Blade Runner" in Hollywood, which have become classics in film history, and "Thelma and Louise" is also regarded by film and television schools around the world as a masterpiece of female films. After entering 2000, his historical war films such as "Gladiator" and "Reign of Heaven" are still sought after by movie fans. Although his new works have not had a wider global impact in recent years, he has been creating without any intention of stopping.
What's even more interesting is that this is an old man who is "not stingy". Even though he still uses bad words in recent media interviews, people can feel his extremely strong vitality and creativity, as well as his unpretentious attitude towards life. He is a commercial film director who is truly artistic and looks very real.
As an 86-year-old man, director Ridley Scott has seen him in the film industry, and he has a kind of airy calmness.
It is worth noting that "Napoleon" is a joint project between the old man and Apple's streaming media company. Fans who are familiar with film culture may know about "Blade Runner" (1982) and "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005). Because the director and the film production company had different ideas, based on the length convention of theatrical movies, both were done when they were released. Large-scale deletions were made, and the post-screening effect was mediocre. However, the "Director's Cut" that was released later received a higher artistic evaluation and became an interesting cultural phenomenon in film history.
In the past, "director's cuts" generally existed only as supplements to theatrical films, or for re-screening at film festivals, or for home DVD rental, but today, online streaming media has expanded its coverage of film and television dramas. Due to the influence of the broadcast, the Apple platform has invested in the film and has already booked the future broadcast date of the "Director's Cut" of "Napoleon". It is said that the total duration is more than 4 hours. This is equivalent to another version of the film with a more complete artistic conception.
Returning to the film itself, this film contains three relatively important battles: the Battle of Toulon where Napoleon made his fortune, the "War of the Three Emperors" where he shocked the European continent and defeated the anti-French alliance, and the final failure of the Battle of Waterloo. At the same time, there is also the complicated history of the French Revolution and the First French Empire for nearly two decades, including Napoleon's several personal ups and downs in politics. In addition, more than one-third of the film is still showing the complicated emotional relationship between him and his wife Josephine. Even these plots can be regarded as a standard sadomasochistic romance film.
These contents are crammed into 2 and a half hours, which makes it seem a bit rushed. This all affects the full development of the emotional passages of the film.
From a war movie perspective, the scenes in this film are pretty good. Although there is a sense of calm and objective detachment, the battlefield situation is expressed very clearly and clearly.
If we say that the strange career of Maximus, the protagonist of "Gladiator", "from general to slave" and his longing for home as a soldier are the most touching factors, it is also accompanied by a complex struggle for royal power in the Roman Empire and The history of slavery has made this film a model for film historical legends. So "Napoleon" wants to show all aspects of Napoleon's life, but like a running account, it doesn't know where to focus. Even in the end, only some viewers remembered the "love affair" between Napoleon and Josephine. It's like trying to cram an elephant into a van, which is why it's difficult for the film to get higher ratings overall.
But it still needs to be emphasized that because director Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix are both world-class, there are almost no out-of-control parts of this film, but sometimes it is too objective and calm and the plot develops too fast. It arouses the emotions of the viewer and makes it less attractive. It can be said that the overall level of the film is quite superb.
Compared with the more easily identifiable peculiar performance in "Joker", Joaquin Phoenix's performance in this film is closer to the texture of life, but it is also full of careful design.
To talk about these plots related to Napoleon's life, we must talk about the performance design of the starring Joaquin Phoenix in this film. In "Joker" (2019), he used a large number of body distortions and ferocious expressions to show a humble and extreme image of a patient with mental illness. These tense performances left a deep impression on people. The main reason why this film has been highly anticipated is because fans are curious about what kind of sparks he and the director can produce in a new collision after collaborating on the classic "Gladiator".
Compared with "Joker", Joaquin Phoenix's approach in this film is obviously more realistic and closer to the performance of "real people in life". But for Napoleon's performance at different stages and on different occasions, he also had different performance designs, forming a complex character image that seemed divided but unified.
Typical scenes, such as Napoleon's first brave lead in the Battle of Toulon, while feeling deep fear and uneasiness on the battlefield, are the texture of a young general eager to make achievements. And these feelings are green, whether it is deliberately getting close to the mummified pharaoh to "listen to the gods" when conquering Egypt, or when he was crowned the first emperor of France without the papal authorization, he directly grabbed the crown and put it on. It can be seen that the protagonist has a primitive and passionate ambition and desire to perform. This is also the reason why Napoleon, a historical figure, is getting closer and closer to a myth, and why he was wildly loved by his troops and the French people at that time - his temperament is like a "living god" that will never be defeated.
Napoleon refused to be crowned by the Pope and took the crown himself. This is a famous historical event.
But in the second half of the film, Napoleon gradually goes downhill, and we can see more of his powerlessness as a human being. For example, after occupying Moscow, he did not gain victory in the war, but only gained an empty city burned by the Russians. This hint of "never surrender" shocked and panicked him. At the same time, the Russian winter also brought the greatest defeat to his victorious army. The subsequent death of his ex-wife Josephine and the unfavorable timing of the Battle of Waterloo can make people feel a deep sense of despair. Even though he knew that everything could not be reversed, Napoleon still used his own attitude to resist the fate of failure, believing that some kind of miracle would happen. But failure will eventually come.
Some viewers commented that the film showed Napoleon's arrogance. This is indeed the most important foundation of his personality. When he succeeds, this kind of character is called "leadership", and when he fails, he is called "willful". In fact, the back and forth is just the process of his pursuit of excellence. Success or failure all depends on whether the "right time, place, people and people" give you a chance. "Result" cannot define "process". He is always rampaging in the same way, challenging fate with the boldness and design of genius. But he succeeds most of the time and can go further and further. But a major failure will end all the myths he has accumulated.
The failure of the Russian expedition was largely due to the hellish cold in Russia. But it also comes from the resistance will of the Russian people who dare to destroy their homeland.
In the hands of an 85-year-old director and a 49-year-old starring actor, the film uses an almost cold-blooded depiction, refusing to be sensational and instead restoring the true struggle of a "mythical figure." The film contains a large number of necessary and detailed descriptions of the social struggles at that time, the ruling aristocrats, and even the enemies of various countries. The audience can see the image of Napoleon, who is stronger and wiser than them all. This is the reason why he can seize the opportunity and become a great man.
Another part of the film's characters are the complicated emotional ups and downs between him and his wife Josephine - perhaps most viewers will refuse to believe that this is what "love" should be, let's just call it emotion.
In fact, as an emperor, Napoleon certainly had no shortage of women, but his infatuation with Josephine, who was six years older than him, became so persistent and incredible because of the passing down of private love letters, as pure as a little boy or a puppy. This created another wonderful mismatch with his status as an emperor.
The film is very delicate in the construction of this part of the plot. Not only does it quote some love letters as character narration, it also imagines a complex relationship between men and women that is intertwined with lust and mental control. Josephine's encouragement and love were obviously a support for Napoleon's long-term suppression of military life and a motivation to "conquer the world." Looking through the history of the world, it is difficult to imagine that a man with an imperial legacy would need a certain woman so much to spiritually encourage him in his conquest career. Different from the popular costume dramas nowadays, he generally needs a group of women, and in the end regards them as tools for the empire to reproduce heirs, but Napoleon himself does not want this.
The peculiar relationship between Napoleon and Josephine is probably indispensable to the improvement of the romantic concept of "love" in Europe since the Renaissance. Even though it is quite different from the contemporary ideal "love", the director's description of this relationship obviously has his own more realistic imagination, which is strange and not limited to the world.
Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby, has a captivating beauty. It's just that he doesn't look six years older than Napoleon.
The controversial nature of "Napoleon", on the one hand, is due to the important figures who promoted history, which themselves will give rise to many perspectives of interpretation; on the other hand, the director refused to conclude the evaluation of history textbooks when creating, and based on his own Life experience is used to understand the characters, and there are even some fictional plots that have been criticized. This 86-year-old man who can also swear when he is interviewed by the media has his own naive pursuit.
It is unrealistic for older directors to expect them to produce the same exciting works as they did in their younger days. Because of the superposition of age, they have become calmer. This is also a mature charm. For movies, these characters become more intriguing because of their complexity and lack of unified answers.
Just like the military genius in this film, the star of the era, the innocent emperor, and the loser who finally retired sadly due to the ups and downs of fate - Napoleon.
