Monsieur N.

In the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, Napoleon Bonaparte is sent to Saint Helena, an island in the middle of the South Atlantic. "Monsieur N." presents a version of the last days of this great leader through the eyes of the British officer assigned to be his liaison with the British governor of St. Helena.

I do not know details of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte in his exile, but this movie is very confused and I have not caught the objective and reasons of the search of Basil Heathcote for the last days of Napoleon Bonaparte in St. Helena and his body. The movie has an awesome cinematography, but is also too long and boring in some parts. Last but not the least, the DVD released in Brazil by the distributor "Casablanca Filmes" has problems with the subtitles, presenting partially most of them. When the dialogs are in English, I do not have problem to understand, but I have practically lost most of those in French. Imagine the situation of an average Brazilian viewer that can not understand English. The DVD has also a bug on 92:02 minutes, and the alternative is to go to the next chapter, and return to 92:50 minutes. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Monsieur N."

Viewers of this film need to be aware that the movie is VERY speculative--sort of a "what if" version of history. In this case, the "what if" is whether or not Napoleon could have escaped from his second exile--the one on St. Helena. However, instead of a documentary-style piece, it is a dramatization of those who knew him in his final years. And, it does a pretty convincing job in this department.

The acting, direction and writing well all good, though I think the movie might have benefited by a little bit more energy. After all, if it is asking us to suspend belief regarding the plot, perhaps they could have infused a little more energy. Oh well, I still enjoyed it and think lovers of history out there will feel the same.

PS--for parents, there is a brief nude scene. It's not THAT explicit, but you might want to consider this when letting your kids see this.

Director Antoine de Caunes has adapted Rene Mansor's fine screenplay concerning the enigma that still exists as to the final resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte into a film that relates the period of history from 1816 to 1840 during which time the bifurcated responses of the British and French to the legend of Napoleon initiated the scandal that still piques our interest.

Opening in 1816 Napoleon (the brilliant Philippe Torreton) is imprisoned on the island of St. Helena along with his most trusted supporters and various citizens who elected to follow him into exile - with an eye on Napoleon's fortune when he dies. There is a new British Governor appointed, Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant), who is steely and determined to prevent Napoleon's escape and yes, even protect the British government from the costly extended prison expenditures a prolonged exile will produce. Lowe appoints Basil Heathcote (Jay Rodan) to sit in watch of the Emperor/General only to come under the spell of the mysterious Napoleon and the spell of a young girl Betsy Balcombe (Siobhan Hewlett) who is in love with Napoleon. Others among Napoleon's party include the Montholons (Stephane Freiss and Elsa Zylberstein) the latter of whom Napoleon keeps as his mistress and impregnates, Cipriani (Bruno Putzulu) his butler and half brother, Ali (Igor Skreblin) his bodyguard, Marshal Bertand (Roschdy Zem) his aide de camp, among others. Napoleon's self perception as the Emperor makes him unavailable to close scrutiny and rumors fly about his proposed escapes and about the British idea of poisoning him. There is great mystery surrounding Napoleon's ultimate death and burial and this mystery is what drives the story in flash forward sequences to the investigation of Napoleon's ultimate exhumation to see if the man buried in Les Invalides in Paris is actually Napoleon Bonaparte - and if not, where is the true Napoleon buried? The period atmosphere on St. Helena is scrupulously recreated, allowing a superb playing ground for the many fine performances by an excellent cast. We see Napoleon as we've never seen him, a multi-dimensional character with whom we, as viewers, tend to sympathize. This is not only due to the fine script but also to the unique portrayal by Philippe Torreton. The film is in both French and English, with English subtitles for the French only. And therein lies the fault of this otherwise superb film. The ambient sounds of the crashing sea and the annoyingly loud musical score by Stephan Eicher cover the English dialogue to such an extent that it cannot be heard most of the time. This is a film that would greatly benefit from re-mastering to add English subtitles for the entire film AND by making it available in full screen instead of the widescreen that reduces much of the action to miniaturization! Otherwise, this is a superb period piece that opens questions about historical accuracy that invite investigation. Grady Harp

Although I am a native English-speaker I usually have no trouble following dialogue in French but I found the dialogue of this film very hard to follow.

I agree with a previous reviewer that the background music is obtrusive. Another problem is the switching from English into French, Corsican Italian, English and back again, which makes it harder to "tune in" to the speaker, and the British actors speak French with a heavy accent.

There are only French subtitles, and these are only for the parts of the dialogue which are spoken in English. Also, they cannot be read unless you have your screen format set to full wide-screen, so you are watching the film through a letterbox slot!

I did not find this to be Richard E Grant's best performance, and I agree with another reviewer that the "ageing" make-up was clumsy.

I shall watch it again, to see if I can pick up any more of the dialogue. It could have been a good film, but it was let down by what I think they call post-production. Perhaps they ran out of money? I expect they spent a lot on the costumes and locations.

What a surprise.....who thought that Antoine de Caunes of eurotrash fame would deliver such a fantastic film. The actors are without exception fantastic notably Phillippe Torreton as a thoroughly convincing Napoleon and Siobhan Hewlett a young actress who just lights up the screen...she plays the english love of Napoleon from 15, 20 and 40 flipping from french to english dialogue and i hear this is only her second job..she is definitely one to watch. Aside from the acting the film is visually stunning and so true to the period..i researched a lot about napoleon when i did my history degree and it really captures the essence of st helena where napoleon was exiled . go and see it