Fights over Ridley Scott’s Napoleon

While several criticisms of the “historical flaws” of the film “Napoleon” have been raised in recent days, Phoenix defended Scott saying that if the story of Napoleon’s life is depicted without dramatic interpretation, it would be boring and boring.

In an interview with Forbes, Phoenix said that a large part of Napoleon’s life depends on personal interpretations; “However, some things cannot be changed.”

“I was watching a video of two university professors who wrote books about Napoleon. For an hour and a half, they only discussed the facts, about his life, and did not agree with each other. Therefore, there is consensus only about some historical events.”

“But when we look at his personal relationships, he was immature and didn’t know how to relate to women,” the “Joker” and “Her” actor continued. How can such a subject be depicted? Sometimes you get to a point where you say the purpose of this sequence is this, and the information we have is this; And that’s extremely boring.”

He believes that this is exactly where you have to decide whether to insert your personal interpretation into the story or to depict your hero’s life with the same information you have.

“It sounds more attractive, and of course it may not be; You might fail or make the wrong decision sometimes, but if you’re not flexible and just stick to the facts… People might want to make a movie based on historical facts, and I personally enjoy watching those. This movie is not one of them.”

The main narrative of “Napoleon” focuses on his rise to power and his relationship with Josephine Beauharnais (played by Vanessa Kirby); Although, according to French critics, the battle scenes of the movie are superbly executed and the acting of Phoenix and Kirby is brilliant, it is impossible to overlook the historical flaws of the movie, especially the “Battle of the Pyramids” and the presence of Marie Antoinette.

While “Napoleon” has received mostly positive reviews from critics, French publications have not been kind to Scott’s new film. Referring to the movie “Barbie”, Figaro newspaper wrote that “Napoleon” could be renamed “Barbie and Ken under the Empire”.

GQ France also writes: Watching French soldiers shouting “Long live France” in an American accent in 1793 is deeply clumsy, unnatural and funny.

French historian Patrice Guenifi has also described the film as “anti-French” and “pro-British”.

In response to these harsh criticisms, Scott told the BBC: “The French don’t even like themselves.” The audience of the film at the Paris opening ceremony liked it very much.

“Napoleon” has performed better at the box office than expected for an epic historical film, standing side-by-side with Disney’s new animated film “The Wish” and its “Fight Thirst” prequel, “Fight Thirst: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” directed by Francis Lawrence. dragged to the halls.

The latest work of the creator of “Gladiator” and “Blade Runner” is one of the hopes of the awards season, along with “Killers of the Flower Moon” by Martin Scorsese.

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