Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is a sprawling, ambitious epic that wants to be the definitive portrait of a man who rose from obscurity to rule a continent. It is also a film that struggles to reconcile its own ambition with its own pacing, and the result is a movie that is intermittently thrilling but ultimately exhausting. The film premiered at Salle Pleyel in Paris on November 14, 2023, and then expanded into a wide release in the United States and United Kingdom on November 22, before streaming on Apple TV+ on March 1, 2024. It grossed $222.4 million worldwide, which failed to meet expectations, and it received mixed reviews from critics who praised the battle sequences and performances but criticized its tone, pacing, and historical inaccuracies.
The film is carried by two strong performances. Joaquin Phoenix plays Napoleon Bonaparte as a restless, ambitious man whose hunger for power is matched only by his need to be loved. Phoenix gives the role a nervy intensity, a constant restlessness that makes Napoleon feel like a man who will never stop moving. His performance is the reason to watch this film, even when the story around him stumbles.
Vanessa Kirby plays Joséphine Bonaparte as a widow who has lost everything and finds herself swept up in a man who promises more than he can deliver. Their relationship is central to the film, and Kirby’s Joséphine is a woman who is both captivated and damaged by the man she loves. The chemistry between them is real, and their scenes together carry the emotional weight of a story that otherwise keeps shifting between close personal moments and vast battlefield panoramas.
The film’s tagline sums up its central narrative: “He came from nothing. He conquered everything.” That is the story it tells, from Napoleon’s early days as a young officer in the French Revolution to his rise to the throne. It is a story of ambition, of a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
Trailer, via Apple TV.
The Rise to Power
The film opens in 1793, during the French Revolution, and follows young army officer Napoleon Bonaparte as he watches Marie Antoinette beheaded by the guillotine. The scene is effective, establishing the revolutionary chaos that will shape Napoleon’s early career. Later that year, Revolutionary leader Paul Barras has Napoleon manage the Siege of Toulon, where he storms the enemy fort and repels the British ships with artillery. This early sequence shows Napoleon’s tactical brilliance, but it is also where the film first starts to stretch its runtime. The sequence is well shot, but it feels like set dressing for a story that is not quite ready to start yet.
After Maximilien Robespierre is deposed and executed at the end of the Reign of Terror, French leaders attempt to restore stability. Again employing artillery, Napoleon suppresses the royalist insurrection on 13 Vendémiaire in 1795. It is a moment of crisis that shows Napoleon’s leadership under fire, and it is one of the film’s most compelling historical set pieces.
Napoleon woos aristocratic widow Joséphine de Beauharnais, and the two eventually marry. Despite their vigorous sex life, they bear no children. This fact shapes their relationship throughout the film, and the film spends considerable time on their domestic life, showing the tension between Joséphine’s need for a family and Napoleon’s need for a wife who can bear him an heir. The film also deals with Joséphine’s past, including her almost 10-year younger lover, Hippolyte Charles, whom Napoleon learns about while in Egypt.
The Egyptian Interlude
The film takes a detour to Egypt, where Napoleon prevails at the Battle of the Pyramids in 1798. The sequence is visually stunning, with sweeping shots of the desert and the pyramids, but it also marks a turning point. When Napoleon hears that Joséphine has a lover, he rushes home, abandoning his troops in Egypt. The Directory criticizes him for this, but Napoleon condemns them for their poor leadership of France. With collaborators such as Talleyrand, Fouché, Sieyès, and Ducos, he overthrows the Directory and becomes First Consul.
The Egyptian sequence is where the film’s pacing problems surface most clearly. The battle scenes are well choreographed, but the film spends too much time on Napoleon’s internal monologue about his decision to leave, and the result is a section that feels like filler rather than narrative momentum. The film is at its best when it is moving quickly, and it struggles when it slows down.
The Rise to Emperor
Napoleon is crowned Emperor of the French by the pope in 1804, during which he audaciously puts the crown on his own head. The scene is a powerful visual moment, and it marks the culmination of Napoleon’s rise. But the film’s treatment of this period is where its historical inaccuracies start to become a problem. The film takes liberties with the chronology of Napoleon’s conquests, compressing events and fabricating details in ways that will be noticeable to anyone with a passing knowledge of the period.
Foreign Minister Talleyrand suggests to Austria an alliance, though the Austrians dismiss the idea. A year later, Napoleon outmanoeuvres and defeats the Austrians and the Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz. The film’s depiction of the battle is its most impressive sequence, with a choreography of cavalry charges and artillery barrages that is genuinely thrilling. The film also includes a scene in which Napoleon invites Austrian Emperor Francis II for wine, which Russian Tsar Alexander I declines to attend, and tells Francis that since he did not totally destroy their armies, he expects the latter to be grateful. These moments show the film at its most theatrical, but they also highlight the gap between its ambition and its execution.
The Supporting Cast
The supporting cast is strong. Tahar Rahim plays Paul Barras, the Revolutionary leader who gives Napoleon his early opportunities. Mark Bonnar plays Junot, and Paul Rhys plays Talleyrand, the wily minister who helps Napoleon overthrow the Directory. Ben Miles plays Caulaincourt, and Riana Duce plays Lucille. Edouard Philipponnat plays Tsar Alexander, and Miles Jupp plays Emperor Francis I. Scott Handy plays Marshal Berthier, and Youssef Kerkour plays Marshal Davout.
The film also includes Robin Soans as Pope Pius VII. The ensemble is large, and the film handles it well in the battlefield sequences, where the sheer number of actors on screen contributes to the sense of scale. In the intimate scenes, the film is less successful, often using voice-over to explain relationships that would be better shown on screen.
The Technical Craft
The technical craft is where the film is at its strongest. The cinematography by Dariusz Wolski is impressive, with wide shots of battlefields and intimate close-ups of faces. The costume design is lavish, and the production design recreates the grandeur of the period with care. The film’s score, composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, is a mix of martial brass and romantic strings that captures the film’s sense of grandeur. The film’s visual effects are also strong, particularly in the battle sequences, where the scale of the action is genuinely impressive.
The film’s editing is where it stumbles. Claire Simpson’s work is competent, but the film’s 158-minute runtime is front-loaded. The first two hours are dense with exposition and political maneuvering, and the last half hour rushes through Napoleon’s military victories with a pace that makes it hard to follow. This is a film that would benefit from a tighter edit, one that trusts the audience to follow the story rather than spelling everything out.
The Critical Reception
The film was released to mixed reviews. Critics praised the battle sequences and the performances, particularly Phoenix’s, but they criticized the tone, pacing, and historical inaccuracies. The film’s Academy Award nominations for Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Visual Effects were a sign of the technical strength behind the production, but they did not translate into a Best Picture nomination. The film’s box office performance came in below expectations, grossing $222.4 million worldwide. The film’s streaming release on Apple TV+ in March 2024 was a strategic move to extend its reach, but it also reflected the film’s difficulties in finding an audience.
The Legacy of the Film
The film has been described as a definitive portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, and it will likely be remembered as one of the most ambitious historical epics of its era. The film’s performances, particularly Phoenix’s, will be cited as highlights for years to come. The film’s historical inaccuracies will also be noted, but the film’s strengths in technical craft and performance are likely to overshadow them in the long run.
The Scheduling of the Film
The film’s development was marked by delays and recastings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, Scott announced Napoleon as his next project. Filming began in February 2022 in England and lasted several months. The film premiered at Salle Pleyel in Paris on November 14, 2023, and was released in the United States and United Kingdom on November 22, before streaming on Apple TV+ on March 1, 2024.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Napoleon announced | October 2020 |
| Filming began | February 2022 |
| Premiere at Salle Pleyel | November 14, 2023 |
| US and UK release | November 22, 2023 |
| Streaming release on Apple TV+ | March 1, 2024 |
The Verdict
Napoleon is a film with a clear ambition and a clear weakness. It is a film that wants to tell a grand story about a man who rose from nothing to conquer everything, and it does so with a cast of actors who are clearly game for the material. But it is also a film that is too long, too talky, and too willing to sacrifice clarity for spectacle. The film’s best moments are its battle sequences and its intimate scenes between Phoenix and Kirby. Its worst moments are its endless exposition and its cavalier attitude toward historical accuracy. It is a film that is worth seeing for its craft and its performances, but it is a film that will be remembered more for its ambition than for its success.
The film’s tagline, “He came from nothing. He conquered everything,” is a promise the film cannot fully keep. He did come from nothing, and he did conquer everything, but the film that tells his story is too weighed down by its own excess to do justice to the man himself. It is a film that is worth seeing, but it is a film that will be remembered as a missed opportunity rather than a triumph.
Phoenix’s performance is the reason to watch this film, and Kirby’s is the reason to care about it. The battle scenes are the reason to stay through the long stretches of political maneuvering. But the film’s length, its pacing, and its historical liberties are the reasons to leave it feeling unsatisfied. The film is a spectacle, and a spectacle can be impressive even when it fails to be convincing. Napoleon is an impressive spectacle, but it is not a convincing one.
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