The movie was a biopic as well as a war movie, exploring Napoleon Bonaparte's turbulent personal life as well as his groundbreaking military campaigns. The movie certainly played fast and loose with some historical details, but in broad strokes, Napoleon aligned with history.
There are the numerous inaccuracies: details of Napoleon's coronation; French bombardment of the pyramids on the Giza Plateau; Wellington's use of topography at Waterloo; Napoleon leading cavalry charges in person; his presence at the execution of Queen Marie Antoinette; and so on and so forth.
Summary. Napoleon's failure in theaters was predictable due to historical inaccuracies and lack of interest in history genre films like Waterloo. Director Ridley Scott's reputation takes a hit with Napoleon's flop, given his iconic past films and upcoming Gladiator 2 release.
Blenheim Palace wasn't the sole English palace standing in for France. You'd have to do a double take to make sure Boughton House isn't really the Palace of Versailles, and that's the point. Boughton House was the filming location for Napoleon's château.
Top 10 Things Napoleon Gets Factually Right and Wrong
How historically accurate is the show Versailles?
In the case of Versailles, it's a series grounded in broader historical truths, but one in which chronology has been manipulated and key characters invented so as to produce a stronger narrative. When events are debated by historians, it understandably dramatises the raciest interpretation of those contested events.
Napoleon said it over and over again that the only woman he ever really loved was Josephine. Her real name was Marie-Joseph-Rose de Tascher de La Pagerie, and she was six years his senior.
In “Napoleon,” everything is wrong, starting with the ages being “all mixed up,” says Gueniffey. Napoleon Bonaparte was 35 when he became Emperor of France and is played by Phoenix who is 49, “They didn't try to make him look younger. He looks tired and uninspired,” he says.
Historians have called out many scenes that are factually untrue, like Napoleon's presence at Marie Antoinette's public execution (he wasn't), for example, or how he led an attack at the Egyptian pyramids. Historian Dan Snow called out the scene in Egypt on TikTok soon after the trailer was released in July.
Although roughly 150 horses are thought to have died at the actual Battle of Austerlitz, none were harmed on set. “I love animals, so I protect them like crazy,” says Scott. “Any horse you see flying through the air in this film is a dummy.”
At the time of his death, the French might have recorded his height in French inches, which were a little longer than English inches. They put him at five-foot-two, but this was probably more like 5 feet and 6.5 inches, a perfectly normal height for a man of his time.
This lavish production never feels like an incredible story, nor does it ever feel particularly intimate. Truthfully, Napoleon rarely feels like anything; perfunctory emotions that are adequately portrayed by talented actors adrift in a sea of tedium.
Historians know that rainy and muddy conditions helped the Allied army defeat the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. The June 1815 event changed the course of European history.
Napoleon true story: What is fact and fiction in the historical epic? The simple answer to this question is that, while the film does offer a broadly truthful overview of Napoleon's life, a great degree of artistic license has been taken at almost every stage of the process.
Dreadful from its silly font giving indications on the screen to its sloppy scenes and irrelevant battle staging. To paraphrase Napoleon, it's worse than a bad film, it's a mistake.
This kind of war without major battles weakened the French army at its most vulnerable point: military logistics. On 19 October 1812 the French army, lacking provisions and being warned by the first snow, abandoned the city voluntarily.
The Battle of Austerlitz, a key victory for Napoleon, is portrayed with a frozen lake in the film. In reality, there was no such frozen lake. Napoleon outsmarted his enemies by sending infantry uphill. The film's depiction takes creative liberties for dramatic effect.
His last words were 'France, the Army, the Head of the Army, Josephine'. Napoleon's body was returned to France and in 1840 was interred in Les Invalides along with the bodies of his brothers and son.
The classic Ridley Scott elements are here - battles are engaging, the costumes and set designs very well-done. Something he can't help but always be good at. Overall, Ridley Scott's Napoleon feels like a simulacrum, a reduced copy of a real film, where, it seems, all life is sucked out .
Ridley Scott's latest film, Napoleon, includes a scene that is sure to get a few history buffs talking: Wellington meeting Napoleon onboard HMS Bellerophon. Although this scene is fictitious and no such meeting between the two men ever took place, the setting is based on historical fact.
And yet almost every historian since 1815 has stated unequivocally that the battle was won by the armies of the Duke of Wellington and his Prussian ally General Gebhard Blücher, and that France's defeat at Waterloo effectively put an end to Napoleon's reign as emperor.
What was the age difference between Napoleon and Josephine?
Napoleon Bonaparte was six years younger than Joséphine, and that contributed to the power dynamic in their relationship. Yet again, Hollywood has obeyed sexist norms and cast a much younger female lead, even to the detriment of the narrative.
Despite years of trying in vain, the pair had yet to have a child. By ending his marriage to Joséphine, Napoleon freed himself to find a new wife who could bear his heirs.
The Collection Didot contains 228 letters from Napoleon to Josephine, and 70 from Josephine to Hortense, and two from Josephine to Napoleon, which seem to be the only two in existence of Josephine to Napoleon whose authenticity is unquestioned.
