Question 1 ) How much Josephine content?
Question 2 ) Is the Josephine content any good?
Yes I read your review, and I am asking is the movie fun or is it meh? Is this a movie like The Favourite for I know it is no history movie.
Q1 - Lots. Costar of the film, outsized role given to her, she's in just about every scene that does not involve military stuff. I'd say its about 50/50 military drama/relationship drama.
Q2 - Yes-ish? Vanessa Kirby is good, and the role is within her usual range. Even if her period style and flexible idea of what a good wife is turns you off, you can believe that Napoleon is into her. Later in the film she becomes a much more sympathetic character. I would say the major problem from her perspective is that her role is all about and centered on Napoleon. It's not exactly a complaint, since that's basically her claim to fame and point of interest, but the film does not do a lot to give us an impression of who she is as a person, beyond the image that enticed him. As I noted in the review, there is NOTHING about her relationships with her children. Her son, as a child has a scene where he goes to Napoleon to ask a favor, which leads to their meeting, and her daughter has all her dialogue in a conversation with Napoleon after her death. Her maid seems to be a more significant character than her children. So even if you like the picture the movie paints of her, it's awfully two dimensional.
Fun? It depends on what you find fun. I think it could have been but the historical shortcomings and the grotesque aesthetic precluded that for me. There is a lot of Napoleon and Josephine acting silly and childish and gross in their mutual infatuation, and in the early scenes she seems to be playing a precursor to Fantine. Napoleon is more dour (because Phoeni
, but also childish and childishly petulant at times.
But yes, the grotesque stuff and the OTT liberties they take with the history have a little bit of The Favourite vibe in there. But it's not the same type of movie, which told a personal story through the weirdness, while the weirdness in Napoleon seems more about demythologizing him or hanging negative symbolism and imagery on him.
"Sometimes unhinged, sometimes unfair, always entertaining"
- The Crownless
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Deus Vult!
