---
title: "Napoleon"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/napoleon"
fi1m_id: "napoleon"
imdb_id: "tt13287846"
tmdb_id: 753342
wikidata_id: "Q105806948"
fi1m_score: 63
critics_score: 70
critics_reviews: 24
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:41.429780+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Napoleon (2023)

Directed by Ridley Scott · 2h 38m · MPA R · History, War, Drama

## Identity

Napoleon

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/napoleon
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** napoleon
- **IMDb ID:** tt13287846
- **TMDB ID:** 753342
- **Wikidata ID:** Q105806948
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13287846/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/753342, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105806948

**Fi1m score: 63** · Critics 70 from 24 reviews

*In a sentence:* He wins Austerlitz with cannon fire on a frozen lake and still cannot win an argument at his own dinner table

> Ridley Scott stages the battles as well as anyone working and rushes everything between them. Joaquin Phoenix plays the Emperor as a sulking oddity, Vanessa Kirby holds the film together, and 158 minutes is not long enough to decide what any of it means.

## Synopsis

Ridley Scott follows Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) from the crowd at Marie Antoinette’s execution to the siege of Toulon, the Egyptian campaign and the throne of France, and through the marriage to Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) that runs alongside all of it. Paul Barras (Tahar Rahim) sponsors his early rise, Talleyrand (Paul Rhys) manages his politics, and the Duke of Wellington (Rupert Everett) waits at the far end of the story. David Scarpa’s script covers a quarter of a century of coups, coronations and battles, among them Austerlitz on a frozen lake. It runs 158 minutes and carries a 15 certificate.

## Review

Ridley Scott sets out to cover the whole adult life of Napoleon Bonaparte in 158 minutes, from the Terror to the end, and David Scarpa’s script takes the only route that leaves open, which is to run. We meet Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix) in the crowd as Marie Antoinette goes to the guillotine, watch him take Toulon by night, and are in Egypt before the film has drawn breath. The battles are worth your evening. The man between them never comes into focus, and that is the film’s problem in one sentence.

When Scott is on a battlefield he is still as good as anyone working. Toulon is done in the dark, a fort stormed by lantern light, a horse opened by a cannonball at close range. Austerlitz is the set piece, and Dariusz Wolski shoots it in a hard white light with the sky the same colour as the snow, so the Austrian and Russian columns are dark marks on a blank page until the French guns turn the frozen lake into water. We were horrified. Wolski puts the camera under the ice and lets us watch men and horses sink past it in a red cloud, the sound drops away, and for a minute the size of the thing and the cost of it are in the same frame. It does not happen again.

Phoenix plays Napoleon as a sulking oddity: a small man in a large hat who mumbles, eats with his fingers, grunts at Josephine across a table and cannot hold a room without a gun in it. It is a deliberate choice and often a funny one, and it takes the air out of every scene that wants to be grand, which is clearly the intention. What the performance does not do is change. Phoenix is the same man at Toulon as at the coronation, and a film that covers this much ground needs its lead to age, harden or break. He does none of it.

Vanessa Kirby is the reason to stay. Her Josephine is older than her husband, bored by him, and aware from their first meeting that he will do anything she tells him to. Kirby plays every scene as a woman working out what a look will cost, and the marriage, with its letters and its bedroom bargains and its long silences, is the only part of the film with a beginning, a middle and an argument. When she is off screen for a battle we found ourselves waiting for her to come back, which is not what a film called *Napoleon* should have us doing.

The trouble is the space between. Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo cut the years as a run of captions and postcards: a date, a city, a scene, a date. The retreat from Russia, which took an army, gets a few minutes of snow. Tahar Rahim’s Barras and Paul Rhys’s Talleyrand are the two men who make and unmake Napoleon and neither gets a scene long enough to show how. Rupert Everett’s Wellington arrives late and is enjoyably rude. Miles Jupp’s Emperor Francis is a good small joke. Martin Phipps scores nearly all of it with choir and drum, loud, and the few quiet cues, under Kirby, are the ones we remembered.

The rooms of state are cold and enormous and lit from the windows, and the coronation is staged to match the David painting everyone half remembers. Janty Yates and David Crossman keep Phoenix in the grey coat and the bicorne for most of the film and put Kirby in the high-waisted white muslin of the period. None of this is at fault. The script is.

Scott began, in *The Duellists* (1977), with two officers in Napoleon’s army fighting the same private feud for fifteen years, and that film understood that a man’s obsession is the story and the wars are the weather. *Gladiator* (2000) had one idea about power and one man to carry it. *Napoleon* has better battles than either and no shape at all. Most critics have been warmer than we are, largely for the spectacle and for Kirby, and we grant both.

See it for Austerlitz, for Kirby, and for Phoenix in his stranger moments, and see it in a cinema if you can, where the guns land in the chest. Scott has trailed a longer cut. On this evidence the film needs the time, and the man deserved a second draft.

*Fi1m score 63, published 10 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics come down on Napoleon’s side, though not by much, and the spread is wide: full marks at one end, outright dismissal at the other. The praise gathers in two places. The battle sequences, Austerlitz and Waterloo in particular, are called coherent, brutal and clear even by reviewers who dislike the rest. And the marriage holds the film together for many: Joaquin Phoenix’s petulant, faintly comic Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby’s Josephine are singled out again and again, with several critics naming Kirby the real lead.

The reservations cluster around purpose. Time Out and The Ringer find no clear point of view; /Film calls the theatrical cut rushed and hopes for a longer version; the Los Angeles Times sees no coherent purpose and The Wrap an unsettled tone. Vulture rejects it outright, finding it a drag with no animating idea, while Variety judges the domestic scenes a distraction from the war. Even the doubters tend to grant Scott the battles.

## Straight answers

**Is Napoleon worth watching?**

*Napoleon* is worth watching for its battles and for Vanessa Kirby, and we scored it 63. Ridley Scott stages Toulon and Austerlitz as well as anyone working, but David Scarpa's script rushes a quarter of a century of coups and coronations into 158 minutes and never brings the man into focus. See it in a cinema if you can, where the guns land in the chest.

**How long is Napoleon, and what is it rated?**

*Napoleon* runs 2h 38m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a history and war film.

**Where can I watch Napoleon in the US?**

*Napoleon* is streaming on Apple TV, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Napoleon, and is it suitable for children?**

*Napoleon* carries a 15 certificate and its violence is battlefield violence, sudden and bloody: a horse opened by a cannonball at close range, and men and horses sinking through a frozen lake in a red cloud at Austerlitz. It is not a horror film and there is little to frighten between the battles, but it is not for children, and the squeamish should expect the cannon to do real damage.

**How does Napoleon compare to Barry Lyndon?**

*Napoleon* is the louder and less shapely of the two; [*Barry Lyndon*](https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon) is the better film. Kubrick follows one shallow opportunist up and down the century before this one at a measured, candlelit pace that can become tiresome but always knows what it is about. Scott has finer battles and no shape, so choose Kubrick for the study of a man and Scott for Austerlitz.

**What should I watch after Napoleon?**

After *Napoleon*, try [*Barry Lyndon*](https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon) (1975, Fi1m 85): Kubrick’s candlelit climb and fall through the century before this one. Then [*The Favourite*](https://film.one/film/the-favourite) (2018, Fi1m 87): Court politics as bedroom farce, with the women doing all the thinking.

### Reviews we read (27)

- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (5/5): Ridley Scott has created an outrageously enjoyable full-tilt biopic that dispenses with symbolic weight in favour of spectacle centred on Joaquin Phoenix's magnificent performance as Napoleon. The critic singles out Phoenix's satiric, preening portrayal of the military genius and power couple dynamic with Vanessa Kirby's Josephine for particular praise. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/15/napoleon-review-joaquin-phoenix-emperor-ridley-scott)
- **The AV Club**, Brent Simon (B+): The critic praises it as a dynamite biopic with a compelling psychological portrait, highlighting the interplay between battlefield successes and domestic struggles with Josephine. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/napoleon-movie-review-ridley-scott-joaquin-phoenix-1851025868)
- **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (80/100, inferred): Ridley Scott brings his A game to a gripping, often delightfully lairy slab of pop history made with mischief, flash and meticulous craft, emerging as a tale of war, power and brisk postprandial sex. The critic singles out the brash and swaggering but oddly grown-up tone and the director's comparison of visions with Napoleon. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/5ad1f71c-0047-4e65-807f-3012f25da8d1)
- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (3/4/4): Scott delivers a brash, thrilling and blood-soaked epic focused on Napoleon’s obsessions with power and Josephine. The film excels in its brutal battle sequences and complex central relationship but glosses over some historical episodes. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/napoleon-review-a-dirty-bloody-epic)
- **Radio Times** (4/5): Ridley Scott’s high-budget historical epic is a perfect match for his talents, delivering coherent battle scenes and a strong lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix. The film balances spectacle with character contradictions and witty supporting turns. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/napoleon-film-review/)
- **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): Scott presents Napoleon as an immutable force of nature driven by fragile ego, with Phoenix’s thorny performance highlighting his flaws and insecurities. Exceptional battle scenes and the central romance make for a lavish, thoughtful drama that remains entranced by its subject. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/napoleon-review/5187899.article)
- **The Times**, Tom Shone (4/5): The film delivers one whopping epic sight after another in spectacular battle scenes, but what stands out most is the tempestuous romance between Napoleon and Josephine, with Vanessa Kirby bewitching as the real star. The critic praises Kirby's performance and the satirical edge away from the battlefield. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/vanessa-kirby-is-the-real-bombshell-star-of-ridley-scotts-napoleon-bc8zf7vrf)
- **Sight and Sound** (75/100, inferred): The critic finds Ridley Scott’s biopic eminently watchable thanks to spectacular set pieces and bedchamber melodrama, despite an academic approach to the subject. Phoenix and Kirby’s performances humanise the central couple amid the grand battle recreations. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/napoleon-ridley-scotts-confident-biopic-confirms-his-own-status-cinematic-general)
- **Film Comment**, Mark Asch (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film weirder than expected, with Phoenix delivering a funny, contemporary performance of an insecure Napoleon focused on his relationship with Joséphine, making it a perversely entertaining portrait despite weak historiography. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/tiny-king-ridley-scott-joaquin-phoenix-napoleon-review/)
- **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (3/5): Scott’s epic looks impressive but lacks flavour and a clear point of view, prioritising battles over deeper character insight. Phoenix and Kirby shine in the central relationship, though the film feels like a history lesson without enough story. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/napoleon-2023)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (50/100, inferred): The review calls the film a bloated take that ricochets between battlefield and bedroom, with Phoenix’s anti-charismatic performance and the focus on Josephine distracting from the epic war footage. Scott’s staging of battles is praised as a highlight amid the uneven execution. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/napoleon-review-ridley-scott-joaquin-phoenix-1235790009/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (40/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a lavish but threadbare epic that punctures Napoleon’s mystique through comic rage and carnage, yet lacks coherent purpose or deeper insight. Vanessa Kirby’s mesmerizing performance as Joséphine is highlighted as holding the movie together. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-11-22/napoleon-review-joaquin-phoenix-ridley-scott-vanessa-kirby)
- **Vulture** (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film not good overall and a turgid drag with faltering rhythms. Phoenix's weird, buffoonish performance is singled out as the one memorable element amid the lack of an animating idea. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-napoleon-charges-in-without-a-plan.html)
- **Empire**, Catherine Bray: The film is an entertaining and plausible interpretation of Napoleon as a micromanager who gets his kicks from wars and sex, with a deadpan, idiosyncratic tone that undercuts traditional historical epics. Scott presents a funny close-up of the man rather than a broader account of his life. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/napoleon-2023/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The critic finds the film more ambitious than involving overall. Phoenix and Kirby's central performances and chemistry are singled out as the most alive elements amid the sprawling, narratively sludgy epic. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/napoleon-review-joaquin-phoenix-vanessa-kirby-ridley-scott-1235647400/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (Critic’s Pick): The critic finds the film consistently surprising for its refusal to conform to epic conventions and its unromanticized portrait of Napoleon as a petulant, vain figure. Joaquin Phoenix’s mesmerizing, lumpish performance is singled out as the standout element. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/movies/napoleon-review-ridley-scott.html)
- **HeyUGuys**, Linda Marric (5/5): Ridley Scott delivers one of his best films since Gladiator with a precise, masterfully acted epic that knows its audience. It is genuinely thrilling and the very definition of a must-see film, with strong performances across the board. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/napoleon-review/)
- **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (B+): The critic praises the film's monumental scale and grandiosity under Ridley Scott's direction, along with commanding performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby that make the compressed historical narrative engrossing and frequently hilarious. [Read](https://collider.com/napoleon-movie-review/)
- **Deadline**, Damon Wise (80/100, inferred): The critic finds Ridley Scott's biopic a psychologically complex but brilliantly staged epic that succeeds thanks to Joaquin Phoenix's charismatic lead performance as a master of war. The battle sequences, especially Austerlitz and Waterloo, are singled out for their visceral, visually striking execution. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/11/napoleon-review-joaquin-phoenix-vaness-kirby-in-ridley-scott-psychologically-complex-but-brilliantly-staged-biopic-1235612080/)
- **NME**, Lou Thomas (4/5): The review calls it an unmissable historical epic with terrific battle scenes and strong performances, especially Phoenix's, recommending it despite historical inaccuracies. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/napoleon-review-ridley-scott-joaquin-phoenix-3547971)
- **The Playlist**, Simon Thompson (B): The critic praises the film's visceral and graphic battle sequences as phenomenal and overwhelming, along with the strong performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby in their toxic, co-dependent relationship. It is called an epic crowd-pleaser and Ridley Scott's best work since The Martian. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/napoleon-review-ridley-scott-and-a-solid-cast-deliver-a-brutal-engaging-history-lesson-20231115/)
- **Polygon**, Joshua Rivera (75/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as an anti-Great Man biopic that uses Napoleon's tumultuous marriage to Joséphine to explore masculine insecurity and its violent consequences. It praises the meticulously rendered battles and the focused, subversive portrayal of the central relationship. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23964477/napoleon-movie-review-ridley-scott-apple-tv-plus)
- **Film Stories**, James Harvey (65/100, inferred): Scott views Napoleon with a mix of awe and scorn, portraying him as an emotionally stunted man-child in a cold, clinically observed biopic. The film excels in its spectacular battle sequences while undermining the 'great man' myth with a focus on his volatile, unerotic relationship with Josephine. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/napoleon-review-a-chilly-skewering-of-great-man-history/)
- **Den of Geek**, David Crow (3/5): The critic sees the film as an unexpected comedy delight satirizing Napoleon through his odd romance with Joséphine, praising the performances of Phoenix and Kirby and Scott's epic filmmaking, while noting it may not appeal to French audiences. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/napoleon-review-british-makes-laughing-stock-french/)
- **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (6/10): The review finds the theatrical cut rushed and surface-level, like a CliffsNotes version that fails to fully explore Napoleon's character or rise to power, though it stages battles masterfully and benefits from Vanessa Kirby's strong performance as Joséphine. The critic looks forward to a longer director's cut. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1447068/napoleon-review/)
- **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (55/100, inferred): The review sees the film as an ambitious but uneven triple mix of blockbuster action, tragic romance, and great-man deconstruction that lacks overall clarity and commitment. It singles out the battle sequences for their impressive scale and visceral impact while faulting the satirical and emotional elements. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2023/11/21/movies/napoleon-review-joaquin-phoenix-ridley-scott)
- **The Wrap** (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the epic dry and unintentionally funny overall, with Phoenix unable to settle on a consistent tone between immaturity and leadership, though battle scenes deliver spectacle. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/napoleon-review-ridley-scott-joaquin-phoenix/)

## Details

- **Director:** Ridley Scott
- **Director:** Ridley Scott
- **Writer:** David Scarpa
- **Cinematography:** Dariusz Wolski
- **Editor:** Claire Simpson, Sam Restivo
- **Music:** Martin Phipps
- **Production design:** Arthur Max
- **Costume design:** David Crossman, Janty Yates
- **Producer:** Mark Huffam, Joaquin Phoenix, Ridley Scott
- **Cast:** Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte; Vanessa Kirby as Josephine Bonaparte; Tahar Rahim as Paul Barras; Rupert Everett as Duke of Wellington; Mark Bonnar as Junot; Paul Rhys as Talleyrand; Ben Miles as Caulaincourt; Riana Duce as Lucille
- **Runtime:** 2h 38m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 22 November 2023
- **Genres:** History, War, Drama
- **Budget:** $165 million
- **Box office:** $222 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPr42qEdhnU

## Where to watch in the US

- Apple TV: streaming, uhd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $7.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $12.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Duellists* (1977): Scott’s first film: two Napoleonic officers, one grudge, fifteen years of it.
- *Waterloo* (1970): Rod Steiger’s Napoleon and whole regiments of extras; the battle done the old way.
- *Barry Lyndon* (1975), Fi1m 85: Kubrick’s candlelit climb and fall through the century before this one. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon.md)
- *Napoleon* (1927): Abel Gance’s silent version, over five hours long and still more restless than Scott’s.
- *The Favourite* (2018), Fi1m 87: Court politics as bedroom farce, with the women doing all the thinking. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-favourite.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/napoleon