''Monsieur N.'' is a 2003 British-French film directed by Antoine de Caunes. It tells the story of the last years of the life of the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Napoléon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

(played by Philippe Torreton), who was imprisoned by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

on St Helena. Napoléon retained a loyal entourage of officers who helped him plot his escape, and evaded the attentions of

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir Hudson Lowe ( Richard E. Grant), the island's overzealous

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. The film suggests that Napoléon could have escaped to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where he died, and that the body exhumed and now at Les Invalides is that of Napoléon's officer Cipriani. The film also suggests that Napoléon and his young new English wife, Betsy Balcombe, could have attended the ceremony of "Napoléon's" burial in the Invalides.

Plot

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

is imprisoned on the island of Saint Helena in the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. Here he dreams of how to escape from his captivity in his last "battle".

Reception

The film was well-received. , 71% of the 21 reviews compiled by

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

are positive, with an average rating of 6.27/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Fueled by performances as polished as its visuals, ''Monsieur N.'' is a flawed yet largely absorbing look at an imagined chapter of Napoleon's exile." The film received a positive but guarded review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', which praised Philippe Torreton's performance but thought the narrative too complex for an audience not initiated in Napoléon's history.

Cast

References

External links

Official website
* 2003 films 2003 drama films 2003 multilingual films 2000s British films 2000s English-language films 2000s French films 2000s French-language films French drama films Biographical films about Napoleon Corsican-language films Films directed by Antoine de Caunes British drama films Films with screenplays by René Manzor Films set on Saint Helena French multilingual films British multilingual films {{2000s-UK-film-stub