the french don't like this movie - Napoleon (2023) Discussion

[–] fc31 (6122) a year ago

“The French don’t even like themselves” Scott told the BBC when presented with the negative reviews coming out of France. “The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.”

Interesting comment from the director.

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[–] EleazarHisSon (769) a year ago

I heard that France had the policy of radio stations having to play at least 50% French music. But it didn't last long because not even they themselves wanted to hear French music.

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[–] EleazarHisSon (769) a year ago

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[–] chumbawampa (858) a year ago

Nobody likes it from the reviews I've read. It's Hollywood doing a movie about French History. Of course it's going to be completely off base, and historically inaccurate. Same with whenever Hollywood does Joan of Arc.

WTF Do Americans or British know about France? Most Americans couldn't even point to France on a map.

This is a Hollywood movie, it's made by Ridley Scott . So, it's just going to be Hollywood garbage.

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[–] Hybrid66 (1516) a year ago

The English/British know a lot actually. We kicked their arses for centuries.

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[–] chumbawampa (858) a year ago

Yes, but you know nothing about French history. Just like the French probably know nothing about all your Kings, they teach in English history like Henry the 8th, King Richard, and all that BS that they teach you .... Because they live in France, so they are going to learn French kings, french history...

You wouldn't expect a French director and production company to make Winston Churchil's biopic. If they did , you'd probably not like the results. This is the EXACT same thing.

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[–] sonans (1674) a year ago

I can think of a example to refute: The Last Emperor.

A french director and writer do a biopic of a emperor in China. It's great, even among chinese.

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[–] jlam888 (643) a year ago

Italian director.

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[–] capuchin (3366) a year ago

The French and the British know a lot more about each other's histories than you might imagine, partly because of the educational approach taken to history in both countries differing significantly from that of the USA, and partly because we live right next door to each other and a great deal of the history is therefore not only shared but (often antagonistically) intertwined. You can't really have an adequate knowledge of one nation's history without knowing something of the other's.

Napoleon is one of the most significant figures in all of European history, not just in French history.

In any case, this isn't really about knowledge. Anyone of any nationality can learn local history before making a film about it. It's much more to do with sensibility and approach to the material. I'd trust a French production company with a figure from British history far more than I'd ever trust a major Hollywood studio. Totally different approach to filmmaking. Hyper-commercialised mass entertainment with a laissez-faire attitude towards authenticity versus... well, something that isn't quite that.

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[–] RockAway (1657) a year ago

I can't say I blame them. Anyone 'Hollywoodising' French history is going to clash with French culture, the fact that Riddley Scott is English makes it all the more insulting. France is a country that celebrates art over spectacle and violence. Napoleon was more than a sum of his parts to France so seeing him portrayed in 'any' way is probably not going to go over well.

I love French history so I enjoyed this film a lot, for me it was enjoyable to see Napoleon portrayed in any capacity on film. He was a fascinating man.

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[–] [deleted] a year ago

what would you rate it?

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[–] RockAway (1657) a year ago

Four out of five stars, it could have been better but given the scarcity of material on Napoleon, I was happy to see this. The film humanized him I thought, which is important, it had good cinematography. I didn't care for the battle scenes, there was a lot of gore and it took away from the storytelling.

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[–] Keelai (36155) a year ago

It doesn't appear Americans like this film. Rottentomatoes score: critics 60 & audience 59.

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