Do you blame French critics for hating on Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon”?
Their heroic, and historic, emperor-general has been reduced to a mumbling, bumbling Joaquin Phoenix. I’m not complaining. His performance has to be seen to be believed — as Sean Lennon recently stated, it’s“ more Napoleon Dynamite than Napoleon.”
Regardless, the film is set to open with around $70 million worldwide, including around $30 million in the U.S, and French audiences seem to be very curious as well.
Yes, despite the harsh reviews, which resulted in a subpar 2.9 cumulative score on aggregate AlloCine, a whopping 120,000 tickets were sold in France on opening day. All of this despite the media backlash over the film’s historical inaccuracies and anti-French stance.
Here’s Elsa Keslassy adding a bit more context:
Additionally, Phoenix’s performance triggered some scoffing from reputable outlets, such as radio station France Culture which compared the actor’s Napoleon look to a “dusty wax figure.”
The harshest review came from renowned newspaper Le Figaro, which wrote that the film could be renamed “Barbie and Ken Under the Empire.” Radio, newspapers and TV outlets are all lambasting the film, hell, even French parliament got into the conversation..
It doesn’t help that Scott recently slammed French critics and historians, telling the BBC that “the French don’t even like themselves.” Funny.
The current projection is for “Napoleon” to sell around 1 million tickets in its first week in France, a total success. It will likely end up being one of the biggest 2023 box-office hits in the country. Go figure.