| | |
Features: DVD, French, English
Using a combination of historical record and creative speculation, Antoine de Caunes has created a fascinating portrait of the Emperor's exile. Telling his story through a British lieutenant assigned to watch over Napoleon, de Caunes depicts the sordid antics of the inner circle of French Army officers who followed the emperor (beautifully played by Philippe Torreton), into exile . The cold war of nerves between the prisoner and his jailer, an officious British military governor (Richard E. Grant), is also shown, but what lends Monsieur N. its power is the implication that Napoleon escaped St. Helena so cleverly that his escape has remained undiscovered to this day.
"An elegant, sophisticated mystery." Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
"Fascinating and likable...I liked it better than the more blustery Master & Commander..." Stephen Holden, New York Times
Editor's Note
On a snowy winter's day in Paris in December 1840, a body is returned and exhumed in a large, official ceremony. France's famous former ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, has died, and these are his remains, supposedly. Antoine de Caunes's MONSIEUR N. offers a fictitious mystery in the retelling of Bonaparte's (Philippe Torreton) final years. What he suggests is that the emperor may have escaped from exile, having faked his own death. In the years between 1816 and 1821, Bonaparte is a captive of the English on the remote island of St. Helena. He spends his days gardening, beekeeping, and writing his memoirs. A small inner circle of his compatriots surrounds him, most notably Cipriani (Bruno Putzulu). This otherwise tranquil existence is colored by the island's fallible characters. The unforgiving governor, Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant), is driven to deviant behavior over the rising cost of guarding a single prisoner with thousands of British soldiers. Furthermore, a jealous quibble develops between two ladies who vie for Bonaparte's love--an English woman named Betsy Balcombe (Siobhan Hewlett), and the wife of one of Bonaparte's generals. It seems that many want to curry favor with the former emperor, in order to eventually profit from his death.The story is told from the point of view of a young English lieutenant, Basil Heathcote (Jay Rodan), who is assigned to shadow Bonaparte during his exile. MONSIEUR N. employs a CITIZEN KANE-like narrative structure, using Heathcote's interrogations of the island's principal characters to trigger flashbacks to St. Helena 20 years earlier. Featuring breathtaking cinematography while posing an interesting question about history's possibilities, MONSIEUR N. uses the hazy real-life details of Bonaparte's death to suggest some believable conspiracy theories.
| Features | Audio: French Dolby Digital DTS Surround Sound | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Monsieur N - DVD By: Jay Antani - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 4/16/2007 6:48 PM | |
No movie to my mind has made such a disaster of the voiceover device as Antoine de Caunes' Monsieur N. In fact, the movie should be cited in Screenwriting 101 courses as an example of how, when in the service of a poorly conceived story, the voiceover can become a go-to device for filling in expository and emotional nuances that the script fails to convey. The voiceover in Monsieur N. belongs to a young British aide-de-camp, Basil Heathcote (Jay Rodan), who is assigned to monitor Napoleon's (Philippe Torreton) daily activities during the latter's imprisonment on St. Helena between 1815 and 1821, the year Napoleon supposedly died....read the full review |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Delta Music Inc |
| Release Date: 6/28/2005 |
| Running Time: 127 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 0529 | | UPC: 00843171005296 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: French | | Available Audio Tracks: French | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
|
| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"Mr. Torreton's glowering emperor, one of the most compelling Napoleons ever imagined for the screen, exerts a magnetic, if slightly repellent spell." 01/21/2005 p.E11Los Angeles Times
"[A]n elegant, sophisticated mystery..." 03/11/2005 p.E8 Village Voice 7 of 10
...as modest conspiracy-mongering, the movie is perfectly robust, earning its dramatic impact from i - Ben Kenigsberg
Variety 8 of 10
An intricate, fetchingly lensed tale of historical speculation framed as a plausible thrillerÉBeauti - Lisa Nessolson
Onion AV Club 6 of 10
...Monsieur N. is too dry and too unsurprising for its two-hour running time, especially once - Noel Murray
|
| |
|
|
|
