Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

talkbaktalk This is the first Napoleon epic where the chief speaks with a French accent; that is good. HIs words are his, many of the events are accurate. Because his life was crowded with events, all detail is left out except the love interest of Josephine.This is a modern interpretation, so any glory of war is ruthlessly stamped out, to the point that great battles are always seen as useless slaughter with piles of corpses. Well, in part they are.If you're looking for any of La Gloire, a big part of the period, you'll look in vain. The people rarely cheer Napoleon. We know his soldiers often shouted "Vive L'Empereur" as he passed. Instead, in the film, they barely notice him on the battlefield.Isabel Rossellini as Josephine is seen too often, as (one of the) the women of his life. Murat stands in for all his Marshals, as a film can only pay so many actors. John Malkovich as Talleyrand is very good.An interesting and intelligent film. Clavier plays the part of Napoleon well, although in the interests of covering all his life, he is a bit one dimensional. If you thirst for battlefield tactics, and scenes of battle, you'll be disappointed. Only one battle is covered in any detail is Austerlitz, his finest victory.Napoleon was an extremely intelligent and relatively peaceful man. Most of the wars he fought were forced upon him by European nations in the pay of the English, who could not abide him. He was a better man than they were.

Gui1999 Detailing the life and times of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon the four part mini-series is a stunning portrayal of one of Europe's greatest men. One minute we are in a tent somewhere in the olive fields of Italy the next we are in a ball watching Napoleon meet the beautiful Comtesse Walweska. Christian Clavier plays a fantastic Napoleon Bonaparte with that cunning and yet short tempered mind that the Emperor is so famous for. Isabella Rossellini does a good job at playing Josephine De Beauharnais and Marie Horbiger plays an equally good Marie-Louise matching the real Empress's personality well. Out of the three women however Alexandra Maria Lara played the strongest character as Comtesse Walweska, the enigma who in the latter stage of the series takes a prominent role. I found John Malkovich's portrayal of Charles-Maurice Talleyrand yet another fantastic performance. Napoleon's family was also represented with great representations of Caroline and of Murat Bonaparte. The role of Fouche was well represented by Gerard Depardieu. In total however I found the series too short, I thought it should have been double the size. The Peninsular Campaign is way to brief in the series and many of the battles are not accurately represented nor really showing Napoleon's real genius which was on the battlefield as well as at the drawing table. The 16 Marshals are badly represented with only a couple being mentioned and Marshal Ney 'The Fearless' is briefly added in at the end to fit the story line. Many of the key points of the era are missing from this otherwise stunning portrayal of one of Europe's Greatest Men.

clee7903 This is an excellent mini series. Although it is 6 hours, it can't even begin to tell Napoleon's eventful life. The mini series tried to captured all the important points in Napoleon's life but can only spend so much time on each. From Napoleon's battles to love affairs, they were all represented beautifully. I didn't find any part of the series to be dry or rigid and the plot moved at a good pace separating each episode that corresponds to 3-4 years of Napoleon's life. The battle scenes (which is initially what drew me to this series), was nicely done. Not the Hollywood style high-def scenes but it conveys the message nicely. Although I have never seen this actor in any movies, his performance was flawless and greatly contributed to Napoleon's character. I definitely recommend this mini series to anyone who'd like to know Napoleon Bonaparte a little bit more.

avilr What a shocking disappointment. I bought the Napoleon 2 DVDs edition, as a gift to myself for Christmas and, what a waste of money . and time waiting for it. The product is so bad in contents as in features; it even lacks the actual almost standard Close Captioning.I have read some biography and historical books about Bonaparte and his time, and I can't stand for Depardieu casting Fouche, I think it could be better as a Marshal, Ney, Lannes of somebody like them.Napoleon casting actor is anything but `imperial', for the man who forged by himself the greatest empire in human history. Where are the famous Marshals? Across hours and hours of soap opera, all we see is two or three puppets in uniform. The top of ridiculous is the mid-eastern bodyguard Napoleon got from his Egypt campaign, remarkable.You get tired of see Napoleon, alone, reading papers or playing with maps and lead soldiers, lost in the immensity of the palaces, and the overacting (as many of his plays) Malkovich spying through doors. Napoleon spent his years as France head of state, when in office, surrounded by tens and hundreds of clerks, messengers, ministers (not only Police - Fouche and Foreign Affairs - Talleyrand), aides du camp, and . in first place, his `Joint of Chiefs', leaded by the superb Marshal Berthier.At last, but not least in the insanity, the time (and the weight on the drama) gift to Josephine de Beauharnais. She was an important lady of French high society, but the emperor's romance with her was short in time - against the almost 20 years he commanded France destiny - and, more important, probably was calculated from his part, because the important connections and relations she had in society, but he, as a young officer of provinces, lacked.Is true, he was fair with her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, named him general, prince of the empire and Viceroy of Italy. Eugene was fighting for his stepfather from 1796 to 1814. But, he earned all these awards because his own merits as a fine officer and not because his mother influenced over the emperor.