| Monsieur N. | |
|---|---|
) Monsieur N. film poster | |
| Directed by | Antoine de Caunes |
| Produced by | Pierre Kubel |
| Written by | René Manzor |
| Starring | Philippe Torreton Richard E. Grant Elsa Zylberstein Jay Rodan Frédéric Pierrot |
| Narrated by | François Marthouret |
| Distributed by | Empire Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | France United Kingdom |
| Language | French English Corsican |
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 Napoléon (played by Philippe Torreton), who was imprisoned by the British on St Helena. Napoléon retained a loyal entourage of officers who helped him plot his escape, and evaded the attentions of Major-General Sir Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant), the island's overzealous Governor.
The film suggests that Napoléon could have escaped to Louisiana, 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 could have attended the ceremony of "Napoléon's" burial in the Invalides.
Cast
- Philippe Torreton as Napoléon Bonaparte
- Richard E. Grant as Hudson Lowe
- Jay Rodan as Basil Heathcote
- Elsa Zylberstein as Albine de Montholon
- Roschdy Zem as Marshal Bertrand
- Bruno Putzulu as Cipriani
- Stéphane Freiss as Gen. Montholon
- Frédéric Pierrot as Gen. Gourgaud
- Siobhan Hewlett as Betsy Balcombe
- Peter Sullivan as Thomas Reade
- Stanley Townsend as Dr. O'Meara
- Igor Skreblin as Ali
- Blanche de Saint-Phalle as Fanny Bertrand
- Jake Nightingale as Carpenter
- Bernard Bloch as Von Holgendorp
Reception
The film was well received. As of July 2020, 71% of the 21 reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes 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."[1]
The film received a positive but guarded review in The New York Times, which praised Philippe Torreton's performance but thought the narrative too complex for an audience not initiated in Napoléon's history.[2]
External links
- (in French) Official site
- Monsieur N. at IMDb
References
- ^ "Monsieur N. (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "Embroidering the Fate of the First Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon," Stephen Holden, New York Times, 21 January 2005