joannaweguelin

This film is both. Paul Barras, in reality a genuine rival and enemy of Napoleon and one of Napoleon's fiercest opponents within France during his rise to power (while being romantically involved with Josephine prior to her involvement with Napoleon), is almost never shown as such, while the lengthy maneuvering to get his plan for the recapture of Toulon approved, which required alliance with powerful officials separate from Barras, is never shown. Napoleon's early campaign in Italy, where he faced three powerful Austrian armies, defeated them all after ferocious fighting, and in so doing really did save Revolutionary France from destruction, is never depicted. The Battle of Marengo, when Napoleon genuinely lost a battle and only had it regained due to the timely intervention of his lieutenant Louis Desaix, killed in the battle, is never depicted. His ordering of the arrest and execution of the Duc d'Enghien, the French royal heir - one of the most-momentous decisions in Napoleon's entire career - is never depicted. These are only the most-egregious errors in this muddled morass. The battles that are depicted are portrayed without any perception of the strategic maneuvering and adaptation that preceded and defined the battles themselves. In rushing to cover the entirety of Napoleon's career in a mere feature length, the film descends into a muddled non-entity of noise, blood, and confusion. Joaquin Phoenix's atrocious performance is completely at variance with the real man Napoleon was. Rupert Everett as the Duke of Wellington delivers the only competent performance in the entire film - and that in a supporting role.

It's humorous, in the way that horrible films are humorous. I almost compared this film to "The Amityville Horror" in that way, but "Amityville Horror" is at least a real film. This muddled mess is a collection of discontinuous half-stories and hippie songs, filled with acting that looks like it's too drunk, high, or both to be believable. Cults in the 1960s and 1970s were evil, quasi-religious organizations that fed on people's need for belonging to gratify the toxic egos of the leaders. But in this filmic instance of meta-cult, there's a cult on set of terrible "actors" and "actresses" needing to feel like they're part of something. People do technically have the right to be drunk, high, and to sing out of tune - just don't try to make a film out of any of that. It's insincere.