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1 year ago
23
Sir Ridley Scott has hit back at criticism of his long-awaited Napoleon biopic from France - claiming 'the French don't even like themselves'.
French critics slammed the biopic as 'deeply clumsy' and 'boring' as the film premiered in Paris last week.
But Sir Ridley has insisted: 'The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.'
Despite garnering glowing reviews in Britain and the US, the epic starring Joaquin Phoenix as the marauding French emperor riled critics on the continent.
Historian Patrice Gueniffey, writing in Le Point, slammed the film as 'the film of an Englishman... very anti-French' and criticised the director for having 'wokist biases'.
But asked by the BBC what he thought of historians who say his film is inaccurate, Sir Ridley said: 'You really want me to answer that?... It will have a bleep in it.'
Sir Ridley Scott has hit back at criticism of his long-awaited Napoleon biopic from France
Phoenix plays Napoleon in a hotly awaited biopic which focuses on his tainted and complex relationships amid a stunning rise to power against the backdrop of the French Revolution
Despite having largely positive reviews in Britain and the US, Ridley Scott's film about Napoleon is already making waves ahead of its release. Pictured: Joaquin Phoenix in the film
A critic for GQ led with the headline: 'Joaquin Phoenix grimaces, Ridley Scott is bored and so are we'
Patrice Gueniffey, writing for Le Point, said the film was 'the film of an Englishman... very anti-French'
Le Figaro took aim at the biopic as a 'reductive version of history' and said the film should be renamed 'Barbie and Ken under the Empire'
Historian Patrice Gueniffey, writing in Le Point, slammed the film as 'the film of an Englishman... very anti-French' and criticised the director for having 'wokist biases'
A reviewer for GQ said the film left them 'bored', adding there was something 'clumsy' but 'unintentionally funny' about seeing French soldiers shout 'Vive la France' with American accents.
Le Figaro said the film should be renamed 'Barbie and Ken under the Empire' and added that Napoleon is portrayed as a 'sentimental brute with a gun in hand and quick to shed a tear'.
Canadian French-language newspaper Le Devoir led with the headline 'Not Waterloo, but not Austerlitz either,' referencing Napoleon's futile last stand in Belgium and his tactical 'masterpiece' against the Russians in today's Czechia.
The article described Phoenix's Napoleon as a 'petulant man-child who doesn't really seem to know what he's doing'.
Criticism of the film's direction builds on growing claims of inaccuracies from historians including Dan Snow ahead of its release in cinemas on November 22.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme this morning, French academic Dr Estelle Paranque acknowledged the film's apparent inaccuracies but insisted that 'it is a movie, it is not a documentary'.
But, speaking of Scott's depiction of the execution of Marie Antoinette, she said: 'It did annoy me a little because he made her kind of fearless and a bit feisty, and at the time honestly she was not.'
C News said the film character was 'too linear to appreciate [Napoleon's] scope and never 'touched on the substance of what made [him] an essential statesman'
Cnet said the film's inaccuracies '[undoubtedly fueled] a certain frustration between what we expected, what we wanted, and what the final result is'
Le Devoir slammed Phoenix's Napoleon as a 'petulant man-child who doesn't really seem to know what he's doing', leading with 'Not Waterloo, but not Austerlitz either'
Other critics have pointed out that Napoleon was not present when Antoinette was guillotined.
Dr Paranque added: 'She tried to remain dignified at the end, but I don't think she would have been that bold. And obviously Napoleon wasn't there.'
But director Ridley Scott has hit back at accusations of historical 'inaccuracies'. In an interview with the New Yorker, he told a critic to 'get a life' when pressed.
'There are 400 books written about him. Maybe the first one was the most accurate, the next one is already doing a version of the author,' he said.
'By the time you get to book 399, guess what, there's a lot of speculation.'
Patrice Gueniffey, for Le Point, said Scott portrayed the emperor as an 'ambitious Corsican ogre, a sullen boor and a cad with his wife'.
CNet branded it a 'shaky film that chooses while refusing to choose', and added: 'Perhaps the film had everything to gain from being called Joséphine, because it loses too much by being called Napoleon.'
US actor Joaquin Phoenix poses during the photocall for the world premiere of the film Napoleon, in Paris on November 14, 2023
Joaquin Phoenix and director Ridley Scott attend the 'Napoleon' World Premiere at Salle Pleyel on November 14, 2023 in Paris
The review also said that the film 'obscures numerous elements, notably geopolitical, which explain the rise and fall of Napoleon's character'.
'The footage multiplies the historical holes and perhaps they are more obvious to us due to our educational training, undoubtedly fueling a certain frustration between what we expected, what we wanted, and what the final result is,' the review went on.
C News said Scott was forced to make 'shortcuts' which stand out as 'unforgiveable omissions in the historical narrative'.
Le Devoir's review also took aim at Phoenix's performance, calling it the film's 'fundamental problem'.
In a viral TikTok video released in the summer, Dan Snow took issue with some of the scenes in the trailer for the film.
The historian pointed out that Napoleon did not fight at the pyramids nor did he ever witness Marie Antoinette's execution.
Snow also took issue with the film's tagline, 'He came from nothing, he conquered everything,' because Napoleon never conquered Britain.
'I love historical epics. I love Ridley Scott. But if you're watching this movie, it ain't a documentary,' he said.
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