The Little Man, A Big Ego and a Far-reaching Legacy.

I went to see Napoleon yesterday.  Took Mum and Dad, as the only members of our household with any interest in seeing the movie.  Big comfy recliners, a choice spot near the "facilities," we settled in for the duration.

Let's digress for a moment.  During my tender years preparing for my O'Level History exam, we studied European History starting with the French Revolution and ending with the Reunification of Germany under Bismarck, and Italy, under Garibaldi and the Red Shirts.  Fascinating stuff.  Napoleon caught my interest.  A little man with a huge ego, who stomped around Europe to build an empire, finally stopped by the Russian winter (something Hitler should have taken under advisement when he tried to do the very same thing).  In the meantime much of the French Code was established, as was the French education system, as was the sewer system, as was the floor plan for Paris's Arc de Triomphe with its spokes of fine avenues, much of which is still in place today and all of which were Napoleon's contributions to French society.  So, okay, he was a deciding moment in French history and for a Corsican savage, he was surprisingly forward thinking.  He was a French man, a product of the Revolution, with high ideals of liberty and justice.  

So back to the movie.  The movie's two story lines - the Campaigns and his relationship with Josephine - never really merge.  The connection is through the letters he writes to Josephine - a declaration of his need for her, interspersed with news from the front.  

The treatment of their relationship is fascinating.  Both are hungry for power.  There certainly was passion for Josephine in a caveman "I must have her" sort of way, but whether or not he was in love?  Well, I think not.  As for Josephine, she is a widow of the Revolution, short on cash and long on a need to protect herself and her children from the Reign of Terror.  She's been in jail.  Her hair is cropped and spiky, yet she attracts Napoleon's eye and he is relentless in his pursuit.

The impact the relationship had on Napoleon is both carnal and curiously tied to his success.  I came away with the view that his need for Josephine on a visceral level fueled his need to prove himself with his growing power and success - with his growing ability to protect and provide for her.  It's worth noting that throughout the movie, she is decked out in fabulous tiaras and dripping jewels, attired in the very latest couture, hair styled in the latest fashion.  She is the very essence of the trophy wife.  But in the end, the overriding drive for power is front and center in the Josephine story line;  her failure to produce an heir is superseded by his own power trip.

The campaigns, about which I am more well-versed, are spare, raw and graphic.  Rather than an all out bash-crash-wallop as the usual Hollywood depiction of a battle, the scenes are shrouded in mist and rain, and rows of menacing rifles and volleys of cannon ball, released with a single nod.   It is brutal in its lean sparsity, and more powerful as result.  Napoleon's brilliance as a tactician shows a completely different man from the needy little boy depicted in his relationship with Josephine.  He's completely in control.  He uses his body to convey his power - very few words.  His negotiations with foreign powers are acts of greasy diplomacy.  It's almost laughable when he declares that he only seeks peace, even if 3,000,000 men must die to achieve it.  The contradictions are palpable - his ego, his double-speak, his grumpiness and his charm.  Yes charm.  How else did he talk his way on to a ship to flee from Elba, through the firing squad lined up to stop him in his tracks, to his self-coronation in front of the people who had gone through the Reign of Terror to eliminate ultimate authority?

It's a long movie, it is slowly and deliberately paced; it is epic but spare.  It is fascinating and funny (yep there are some really funny lines).  My Dad found the timelines and the dual narratives, a little confusing.  My Mum and I were having side-bar discussions as we tried to remember who actually turned the tide at Waterloo (it was the Prussian Cavalry coming in from the right flank and breaking through the French defense and we felt a little pleased with ourselves for getting the answer right!). I'm wondering if an American audience, with presumably little context for this particular era given that they were fighting for their own independence, might find the timeline difficult to track.  And as for the French?  Well, I doubt the re-interpretation of their national hero is welcome.  I'm sure that the English producer, Ridley Scott, with the American lead actor, Joaquin Phoenix, (with the unconvincing accent) will incense the notoriously nationalistic French.  And I am absolutely positive that Rupert Everrett's turn as Wellington, will positively infuriate our French colleagues to apoplexy!  But this critic found the depiction of this upstart, this foe of England, Prussia, Russia, Austria, this complicated grumpy, little man with an enormous sense of his own importance, fascinating.

P.S. There was a commercial in the UK where a disheveled Josephine is told by Napoleon, "Not tonight Josephine."  The suspect authenticity of his off-hand dismissive comment has survived the years to become an ad for Super Soft hairspray.   Ironic given the short, pixie lop Josephine sported when Napoleon first clapped eyes on her.