Basically, Ridley Scott reconnects, perhaps unintentionally, with the old caricature that was made of Napoleon just after his fall, coming from the Restoration or from the English enemy at the time of the Congress of Vienna. He is hardly served, it is true, by a Joaquin Phoenix too old for the role who, from start to finish, displays a blank look and a somber expression. As Madame de Staël pointed out, Napoleon was famous, on the contrary, for his icy gaze and his very seductive smile
We can reasonably think so as he systematically demeans the character. At the age of 24, during the siege of Toulon, he was a coward. During the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, he ridiculed him by making him fight and fall like a common brat. During the Egyptian campaign , he bombed the pyramids – which was never the case – while he took dozens of scholars to study this civilization. When he dictates a letter, he looks hesitant, stupid, even though he exhausted his secretaries dictating. During the coronation, he does not wave the crown as if he had won the raffle. And everything is consistent. He belittles him so much that he gives the impression that Joséphine – played by an excellent actress, perhaps a way of reinforcing this reversal – was superior to him to the point of concluding that, next time, she would be the emperor. Certainly, woman is the future of man, but by subscribing to such a woke vision of History, Ridley Scott does not realize the logical absurdity to which he arrives: how could such a stupid character, as mediocre and ridiculous, would have managed to write such a destiny.
www.lepoint.fr
- shocked I tell you, shocked 
), if changes are made to historical events and/or people which alters the facts around those events/people, then I would force films/TV shows worldwide to have a 5 second slide at the start (before titles) and at the end (before credits) which says something to the effect of "whilst this is based upon a true story/historial event/person - the story/event/person has been changed for entertainment purposes and therefore this film/TV show is a fictionalised account", just like they were 'forced' to in the UK with the WW2 submarine film U251 and its portrayal of "America captures the first German enigma machine", which was utter fiction and, in the UK only, had an additional slide added with the "true" info.
