The Emperor's New Clothes

Magical arthouse gem (released here on Paramount's "Classic" label) which deserves a wider release...and rescue from the curse of small theater presentation...(I saw it improperley masked on a tiny screen which appeared to have a very vociferous nest of fledglings behind it...and the film still glowed...my first raves have to be for the superb photography and inspired digital wizardy which made the audience's journey back to 1821 so enchantingly real). Very clever and charming script manages to manipulate the myths, legends, and cliches surrounding Historys favorite mini meglomaniac and find a spark of humanity missing from most movie representations (except for Abel Gance's masterpiece...which is beautifully saluted in this movie's final snowy scene). Ian Holm sinks into the role of the exciled emperor and the burlesque turn of the galley swabber recruited to impersonate him with equal aplomp...(to be honest I would have relished a bit more of the impersonators delicious descent into debauchery). Excellent supporting performances, beautiful score, and unique unsentimental portrait of the period (with unvarnished representations of 1820's undertaking, hygine, and nontreatment of mental illness). A film to treasure if just for the gentle subtlety of it's central romance...including a tryst on a rooftop overlooking Paris during a thunderstorm which ranks as one of the loveliest shots in years. A sweet smart little gem which belongs in the collection of every cinema connosuire

First off I need to say that Ian Hom is amazing. To be able to play two different characters of two different persuasions and bearings is mind-blowing. This film is whimsical and fun and a very good "what if" of history. Parts of it are sad and parts are humorous and all of it is good. A human element is given to characters whom are known to history solely for their deeds and every character in the film has depth of field and a real personality. Many of the scenes are played out in textbook fashion with a beginning a middle and an end with rising and falling action and yet each scene propels the story line further and is a driving force to the film as a whole. My personal favorite moment in the film is the melon scene where Naploean as an exile in his own country still becomes a general of a an army of melon merchants. Sheer brilliance and very beautiful in its humanity. This film shows that although a person can't change whop they are, everyone can change direction and find love.

A big measure of how I rate a movie comes from how I feel at the end of it. I was feeling really good after this one.

Quick plot outline: Napoleon (an awesome Ian Holm) is exiled on the isle of St. Helena, but someone has been found who looks exactly like him. So he has concocted a simple plan: have him and the look-alike switch places, and then after Napoleon arrives in Paris, have the fake announce to the world that he is a fraud, in essence telling the world Napoleon has escaped and therefore paving the way for Napoleon to return to the throne. But the plan doesn't go as predicted: the ship Napoleon travels on sails by France for one, and the fraud is not quick to give up his oh-so dreary exile. When Napoleon does arrive in Paris, as per the plan, he stays with Madame Truchaut, the wife (Iben Hjejle) of a now deceased soldier who had started a fruit-selling business after his military career had ended. Napoleon and Madame Truchaut get to know each other and her kindness begins to chip away at his hardened heart. Needless to say while this is happening, the fake is not quick to tell to the world he is an impostor as he's been cleaning the poop decks of Napoleon's ships for years. And the real Napoleon begins to see the real cost that his reign cost France.

The basic story is not new but it is done really well. Ian Holm is a VERY believable Napoleon, always walking like a soldier, talking in a straight and curt manner, and in general giving the impression he was born in a war room. He's also quite funny as Eugene Lenormand, the fake who's playing Napoleon. The film could have easily been a flop - mixing a love story with Napoleon is obviously a sticky wicket. But it doesn't get too serious for it's own good, or too funny. It's a great mix. The film doesn't spend too much time on the fake, which it easily could have for laughs. The story is about the real Napoleon, and it stays focused. There is also a great scene where a rival for Madame Truchaut's affections, a doctor (an unctuous Tim McInnerny), tricks Napoleon into coming to a mental institution, where Napoleon sees a whole bunch of crazies pretending to be him. He looks at himself: is this the legacy he left France? Is he looking at himself and not liking what he sees? It's a cool scene. It makes it all the more powerful as the doctor knows his identity, and seems to get a twisted yet humbling satisfaction from humiliating and defeating the great Napoleon, not to mention freeing up Madame Truchaut for himself.

But I was still smiling a lot through the movie, and that's something I don't find a lot these days. Maybe you will too. Highly recommended.

This is a charming movie, a shame it didn't get more notice when it was in the theaters.

Ian Holm plays Napoleon who uses the old "switcheroo" to escape St. Helena.

But his substitute enjoys the job so much that Napoleon's escape is never announced, and he eventually dies leaving "the real Napoleon" loose in France without an army.

This is a carefully crafted, beautifully acted "what if" story about Napoleon Bonaparte. It is literate, inventive, and has a beautiful music score to boot. The female lead, Iben Hjejle, is a revelation! I wish she would make more films outside of Denmark.

The story centers around Napoleon's exile after Waterloo, and a plot to have him escape (using a double), return to France to raise an army and regain his throne. But something unforeseen happens along the way, when his double, back on St. Helena, decides he is enjoying being Emperor Napoleon too much to give it up. That leaves the real Emperor Napoleon, secretly back in Paris, with a problem: nobody believes he is who he says he is...

Let's not reveal any more of the plot in this outstanding film (provided you can enjoy a movie with no nudity and cursing, and virtually no violence).