#napoleon 2002

[gamersix06]

How it feels to watch the Napoleon mini series from 2002:

[alanpylon]

— Sire, I'm not being trust him.

— Whom, Fouché? Monsieur de Talleyrand, but he's just sleeping.

[jabybarjo]

I've watched a lot of films about the Napoleonic era. Do you have any other films I haven't seen because I'm getting bored... Here's a list of everything I've seen:

-Napoleon (1927)

-L'Aiglon (1931, adapted from a play)

-Napoleon (1937, a 3-hour sound version of the 1927 Napoleon)

-Désiré (1954)

-Austerlitz (1960)

-Madame Sans-Gêne (1961)

-Waterloo (1970, definitely one of my favorites)

-Napoleon (2002)

-Napoleon (2023)

Actually, I haven't seen that many... unless I've forgotten some.

[microcosme11]

13 Vendemiaire

[ciderbird]

Napoleon 2002 + textposts

[boneyagainsttheworld]

I've done this new video edit on Napoleon (2002 series with Christian Clavier) using the song "Hurt" by Johnny Cash, that I think is very fitting for him!

[nesiacha]

Mini provocation post regarding the 2002 Napoleon series

I watched the 2002 Napoleon series years ago, so there's a chance I'm saying nonsense because there's no way I'm watching this series twice; I'm not paid for that. This series did not please me, as you might have guessed. First of all, regarding the actors: I mean, in other films, the actors playing Talleyrand and Fouché evoke great fear of these characters. You can sense the horrible things they have done without even explaining it, and you're not surprised by the revelations of the atrocities they committed, notably in Lyon with Fouché (see the series "La Caméra explore le temps"), and you fear for the characters crossing their paths. In this series, nothing at all. I would even go further in provocation: I felt like you could insult them with impunity, and they would start crying without doing anything else (I exaggerate, you can see they are ready to do other devious things, but honestly, I think an average person like me has every chance of beating them in this series, whereas in other series like "La Caméra explore le temps" or in Abel Gance's films, I never think that; I rather pray for the poor person who has the misfortune of crossing their path).

We mainly see the positive sides of Napoleon (barely touching on his flaws), but not what he did in Jaffa or his shameful behavior in Egypt (say what you want about Kléber, he had every right to be angry at Napoleon, in my opinion, for Bonaparte's actions in Egypt). The re-establishment of slavery and the atrocities committed to restore it are barely touched upon (all for nothing because in the end, it weakened France more than anything besides committing a horrible betrayal). The series' authors don't even mention that the Penal Code was never Napoleon's but that of the first constituents of 1791 (I don't know if the series says this or not, as I said, no way I'm watching it twice in a row). The Civil Code was actually devised as early as 1794, with the Convention starting to vote on civil acts. Napoleon was dreadful to women, who ended up in a worse condition than in Spain or Italy (in France, a man who killed an adulterous wife had the right to mitigating circumstances, but not vice versa), workers were even more oppressed, the fake puritanism he instilled, one rule for him and his family, another for others,etc . None of that is covered.

Characters that could overshadow Bonaparte are removed, notably Kléber, Carnot, and other Jacobins like Felix Lepeletier, Jean-Baptiste Antoine Le Franc, the Babeuf family , Simone Evrard, and Albertine Marat (honestly, women are barely represented outside of Josephine, the womens in the family of Bonaparte, as usual). To avoid overshadowing Bonaparte, his adversaries are also belittled, like Louis XVIII, who was actually intelligent in real life. The Spanish are seen as horrible people—as if they had no good reason to revolt, how dare they not let Bonaparte oppress them.

Oh yes, the Jacobins are seen as cruel people because they voted for the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. No comment. I know Marie Antoinette's execution was more controversial, rightly so, as there was a lack of evidence even though it was known she was at least complicit in high treason, but regarding Louis XVI... I call on the screenwriters to urgently read a history book. And I say this while having more sympathy for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette than for Bonaparte, as they had no ideals to betray unlike him . By the way, it is not mentioned that Bonaparte was a Jacobin who betrayed them for power, which is the worst in my eyes. The screenwriters call the Terror the Reign of Terror; here is what I think of this stupidity regarding the term:

https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/744763300619878400/i-never-understood-the-term-reign-of-terror-i?source=share

Then, for these same screenwriters, 18 Brumaire is a glorious event. I don't understand how an act of high treason to seize power with two other people, expelling all elected deputies by armed force—albeit elected by censitary suffrage—is something glorious. Someone would have to explain that to me. The only thing the series reproaches him for is the execution of the Duke of Enghien.

In short, I will stop talking about this while there are so many other things to say, like the fact that this series adopts this (stupid in my eyes) idea of a providential man.

But if I follow their logic in wanting to create propaganda, I'll propose a series to the same production on Hébert right away. So, I will make a series focusing almost exclusively on his love with Marie Françoise Goupil, highlighting only his positive aspects while not focusing on any negative side.

Here’s what I will do: first, we will start directly with Louis XVI's flight to Varennes so we can avoid Hébert's royalist side before he became a republican (to be honest, many French went through the same stage, so we won't blame him for that). I will make it seem like his newspaper is the best (while minimizing or not mentioning his vulgar style at all). I will make it seem like all the petitions from the Sans-Culottes are his doing, that all the French applauded his campaign of forced de-Christianization, that he never accused Marie Antoinette nor took advantage of the situation against what we call the enraged. We will also focus more on his life with his wife and daughter. I will emphasize that he was in prison and present the expulsion of the Girondins from the Convention as one of the greatest days of democracy, making it seem like he alone was responsible for that (I’ve already talked about what I think of this here: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/753932369385373696/2-june-1793-and-18-brumaire?source=share). The only fault we will attribute to him in the series is that he did not get along with Marat. I will make it seem like he was sincere when he said he was ready to be the next victim after Marat. I will also omit the fact that he called for more executions and ensure the series does not present any victims of the Terror. In my scenario, his execution is because of the villainous Camille Desmoulins, the Dantonists, and the ungrateful Montagnards who wanted to execute him to gain more power, with Hanriot and Chaumette being traitors to Hébert. I will present him as a misunderstood victim, a great politician, and a providential revolutionary who single-handedly carried out the revolutions.

And there you go. What, this is revisionism? It risks being rejected due to a glaring lack of historical accuracy. Well, indeed XD.

P.S.: I know the Hébert scenario is utter nonsense; he is one of the revolutionaries I appreciate the least (euphemism). I just wanted to show that if we allow such a series with Napoleon (and it's always allowed because of the "providential statesman" message), it's just as nonsensical as the scenario I just proposed. A provocation, yes, but not far from what I think.

[minetteskvareninova]

Resisting the temptation to become an Isabella Rossellini’s Josephine fan account. My rewatch of the 2002 miniseries so far has only made me fall in love all over again. Not to be bisexual but holy fuck. The charm! The wit! The beauty! No wonder Christian Clavier literally asked her to marry him on their second meeting. Yes I know that didn’t happen IRL and no I have no idea what they were thinking when they wrote it into the script, but I for one didn’t question it, because she’s just so-