Napoleon

"He came from nothing. He conquered everything."

2023 2h 38m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 3,289

HistoryWarDrama

Synopsis

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An epic that details the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.

“He came from nothing. He conquered everything.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Joaquin Phoenix
Napoleon Bonaparte
Vanessa Kirby
Josephine Bonaparte
Tahar Rahim
Paul Barras
Rupert Everett
Duke of Wellington
Mark Bonnar
Junot
Paul Rhys
Talleyrand
Ben Miles
Caulaincourt
Riana Duce
Lucille

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: David Scarpa
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$165M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 5 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

212+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ridley Scott, shot by Dariusz Wolski. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Martin Phipps. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Claire Simpson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ridley Scott directs. Dariusz Wolski behind the camera. Martin Phipps scores. Claire Simpson cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, German, Italian, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 158 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$165M budget — tentpole studio territory.
3Released 3 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 5 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian.
5212+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Ridley Scott, shot by Dariusz Wolski. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Martin Phipps. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Claire Simpson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby and Tahar Rahim carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "He came from nothing. He conquered everything.".
11IMDB entry: tt13287846 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has 6 community votes — a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
13Classified under 10 themes, including "empire", "france", "general", "biography".
14Released under 32 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dariusz Wolski
Original score: Martin Phipps
Editing: Claire Simpson
Production design: Arthur Max
Costume design: David Crossman
Makeup / hair: Jana Carboni
VFX supervisor: Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
Sound: James Harrison
Stunt coordinator: Nikki Berwick
Runtime: 158 min · 2h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $165,000,000
Box office: $222,435,664
Return: 135% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Napoleon (2023)

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Ridley Scott

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Manuel São Bento2023-11-23
★ 4/10
FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/napoleon-review-a-dispassionate-hollow-spectacle/ "Napoleon contributes to a troubling trend in cinema, transforming significant historical narratives into hollow spectacles driven by mere visual entertainment. Despite compelling performances and visually stunning battle set pieces, Ridley Scott fails to control the shockingly inconsistent tone, leading to abrupt shifts between heavy drama and spontaneous comedy. The dispassionate treatment of the millions who suffered through Napoleon's acts testifies to the dissonant messages of the movie, which ends with an unclear feeling about the status of its protagonist. Too much creative liberty leads to absurd historical inaccuracies, including a questionable lack of French accents and actors. Despite efficient pacing, the 157-minute runtime surprisingly feels rushed, but I don't believe the rumored four-hour cut will fix so many massive problems..." Rating: C-
CinemaSerf2023-11-24
★ 7/10
I think this is one of those films, like his "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005) epic that Sir Ridley Scott has made for aficionados of grand scale historical cinema, not for historians. Indeed it may well be that for this film, the less you actually know about the subject the more you might enjoy it. We start with the demise of Marie Antoinette and see Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) watching from the baying crowd. He's a relatively junior officer but an aspirational one who manages to sell a plan to relieve the British occupied city of Toulon to his boss Barras (Tahar Rahim). This success sets him on a parabola that sees him rise, his falling in/out/in of love with the charismatic Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) and his overwhelming desire for European domination. The narrative clearly illustrates the fickleness of dynastic politics, trust and betrayal, love, lust and shrieking hypocrisy in a colourful and vibrant fashion. I didn't love Phoenix in this role, but maybe because Rod Steiger was so convincing in "Waterloo" (1970) that at times he looked a little like a mimic. That said, though, he puts his heart and soul into the role and the increasingly toxic dynamic with Kirby manages to stay on the right side of melodrama throughout. Again, as with Sir Ridley's tale of Jerusalem from eighteen years ago, he manages to pull off some spectacular battle scenes and the cinematography captures well the hostile environments - human and natural - faced by the soldiers as his empire building rose and fell. Although it's over 2½ hours long, I felt the focus was rather imbalanced. A long time spent on his rise to power then his decline and fall rather rushed. Dare I say it, but this might have worked better as a part one and a part two scenario. It looks stunning and the creative forces behind the costumes and visual effects are bound to be picking up a slew of gongs in due course. The acting, well that's less impressive and though I do enjoy the genre, I fear this may just end up being famed for some historical inaccuracies rather than being for an outstanding biopic of one of the world's most enigmatic and flawed megalomaniacs.
janeyee2023-12-25
★ 3/10
"Napoleon" ambitiously sets out to condense the colossal life of the French emperor into a single film but ends up biting off more than it can chew. The movie, while visually stunning and energetically directed, suffers from an overly ambitious script and a plethora of historical inaccuracies that distract rather than enhance. Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of Napoleon is inconsistent, struggling to meld the complex dichotomy of the character's reputed brilliance and egotism with a more vulnerable, human side. The film's pacing is erratic, attempting to navigate through two decades of dense European history and personal drama within a limited runtime. Key events feel rushed or underexplored, leaving viewers longing for the depth and development that a miniseries format could provide. Vanessa Kirby's Josephine provides a glimmer of intrigue and depth, yet even her story feels truncated and secondary to the hurried historical epic. Overall, "Napoleon" exemplifies a missed opportunity to deeply explore one of history's most enigmatic figures, hinting that a more expansive, serialized approach might have better served such a monumental story