Instead of France, Napoleon was filmed in England and Malta. 'There is enough 'neoclassical architecture in England to make it possible,' says Arthur Max, the film's production designer, 'probably because a lot of the design that comes out of France and England is based on Italian classic Palladian architecture. '
England's Blenheim Palace is a Unesco World Heritage Site and a primary filming location for Napoleon. From its Great Hall and Library to its grounds, Blenheim Palace stood in for France, Italy, and even Russia throughout the film.
Blenheim Palace was used as a film location for many of the key scenes in the recently released Napoleon film – from intense battle scenes in the Blenheim Estate and external grounds as well as romantic ones within the Palace's Great Hall and Library, Main Saloon and the State Rooms.
As many viewers and historians soon realized, the movie plays fast and loose with history for the sake of cinematic entertainment. In broad strokes, Napoleon hits all the right beats of Napoleon's incredible career, but the finer details often differ from what the history books say.
A striking scene in 'Napoleon' was filmed aboard HMS Victory, in the Admiral's Cabin – a fictitious encounter between Wellington (Rupert Everett) and the post-Waterloo Bonaparte.
Instead of France, Napoleon was filmed in England and Malta. 'There is enough 'neoclassical architecture in England to make it possible,' says Arthur Max, the film's production designer, 'probably because a lot of the design that comes out of France and England is based on Italian classic Palladian architecture.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Blenheim was/is the home of the Duke of Marlborough. The dukedom passed from father to the oldest son. Winston father was the third son of the duke so the title passed to his oldest brother - and then to his son. So Winston was never going to inherit the dukedom -or Blenheim.
It is these two myths that the present work sets out to dispel, for the truth is far less straightforward and much more interesting. Although Napoleon and Wellington never met or corresponded, and fought only one battle against each other, they spoke about one another a great deal both before Waterloo and afterwards.
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.
The chapel of the Invalides was built at the end of the 17th century by Jules-Hardouin Mansart and contains Napoleon's tomb. In 1840, during the 'Return of the Ashes', a law passed on 10th June ordered the construction of the Emperor's tomb below the dome of the Invalides.
It was simply that Napoleon and Josephine were unable to conceive a child together. From her story, it seems likely that Josephine's secondary infertility was due to tubal factors, acquired after the births of the children during her first marriage and during the turbulent years of the French Revolution.
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.”
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.
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.
Their careers overlapped considerably during the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802) – Nelson as a commander in the British Navy and Napoleon as a general in the French army – though they never met in combat. Both proved to be gifted leaders and their victories in battle heightened their personal reputations.
What did the Duke of Wellington think of Napoleon?
Wellington in contrast famously said that Napoleon's presence on the battlefield “was worth forty thousand men”. Privately he criticised his military and political rule, referring to him as 'Buonaparte' to emphasise his non-French origins. “His whole life, civil, political and military, was a fraud'.
