Napoleon

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The Duellists, Exodus, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, 1492, The Last Duel ... The British Hollywood general Ridley Scott has already fought many successful battles in the field of historical films. Soon to be 86 years old, he now presents his epic about the military leader and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the world-historical figure that Steven Spielberg has also been struggling with for ten years and Stanley Kubrick has failed after epic preliminary studies. The good news is that Scott's Napoleon has not become his Waterloo, the symbol of devastating defeat. The bad news is that this movie version is not too far away from that. This is despite the fact that Vanessa Kirby as Napoleon's temporary wife and eternal obsession Joséphine endows her character with charming slyness and Joaquin Phoenix the title hero with an inexhaustible repertoire of oddball ideas: This Napoleon is sometimes the unapologetic quick-thinker in the turmoil of the French Revolution, sometimes the Corsican provincial without manners, sometimes the brilliant strategist - and always a pathetic lover. But two dramaturgical problems cannot be overlooked. The love story is more of a (highly amusing) soap opera than a great drama of the heart, because the love of the protagonist couple is primarily portrayed as an erotic curiosity, and the (brilliantly staged but overlong) battles of Austerlitz, Borodino and Waterloo are barely placed on the political map. The result is a splendid picture book. The great historical context, the secret glue of every historical film, falls by the wayside - and with it the political genius of the bold innovator Napoleon, his real legacy alongside that of the massless emperor, whose blood toll the film dutifully lists in the credits. Perhaps the announced four-hour streaming version will correct this impression. With AppleTV, the studio in charge was once again a streaming service. And it only sends out its warhorse in full gear when it is most profitable for it.