User Reviews

After the defeat of the Napoleonic armies in Leipzig or battle of the Nations and the signing of the Treaty of Paris , the victorious powers decided to exile the mythical general Napoleon (Daniel Auteuil) to a small island in the Mediterranean . As the stuck-up , ex-Great Emperor Napoleon was banished in Elba, of which he would be appointed sovereign prince . When snotty-nosed Napoleon arrives to Elba Island in exile , Martino (Elio Germano) , an idealist teacher , writer, and strongly anti-Napoleon plots to kill him . Meanwhile , the teacher in love with the beautiful and bumptious Baroness Emily (Monica Belucci) but then appears Napoleon who goes after her and things get awry . Shortly after, Martino is hired as the Napoleon's writer , whom he deeply hates , yet soon starts recording his memoirs and taking written notes on his essential biographic points .

Set in Elba island , 1814 , a charming , enjoyable drama about an idealist young teacher who gets in problem when the snotty-faced, vain Napoleon arrives in his island , depeloped among seductions and affairs, expectations and fears , and along the way , giving precise portrait of Napoleon , focusing on his extreme ambition , egoism and power craving . Interpretations are uniformly acceptable , such as : Daniel Auteuil as the selfish and conceited General Napoleon Bonaparte , Elio Germano as the idealist rebel and stubborn teacher who finds himself serving as a librarian while learning to value the man behind the bigheaded general , the always gorgeous and uppity Monica Bellucci , as well as the veteran Omero Antonutti as the honest elderly teacher. Furthemore , being a Spanish/Italian co-production here shows up some Spaniard support actors as José Angel Egido and Margarita Lozano . Packing a stirring musical score by musician Juan Bardem , adding 7th symphony of Bethoven . It displays a colorful and evocative cinematography by Alessandro Pesci . Being shot on location in Cala Violina, Scarlino, Grosseto, Iombino, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy . The motion picture was professionally written and directed by Paolo Virci . He's a good Italian craftsman who has written and directed several films , such as : Intolerance , The First Beautiful Thing , A Whole Life Ahead , Like Crazy, My Name Is Tanino and his greatest hit : Human Capital.

The flick was based on historical events about Napoleon Bonaparte's life , these are the following ones : The French minister Talleyrand designed this outlet for Bonaparte after being vanquished . The victors preferred to apply a heavy hand with the French emperor, some even advocated the death of Napoleon. However, the fear of turning him into a martyr led them to opt for a more lenient solution: the island of Elba was a golden cage for Napoleon. Despite being nominally his sovereign, Bonaparte was guarded by hundreds of spies and by the governor of the island. Furthermore, he saw with bitterness how some of his friends, whom he had ennobled, betrayed him and swore allegiance to the Bourbons reinstated on the throne. Neither was his family very helpful. Josefina, his first wife, died without Napoleon being able to attend the funeral. His second wife, María Luisa, did not want to accompany him into exile. And neither his son nor his brother Joseph his could visit him on Elba. Napoleon had lost at the age of 45 the power he had enjoyed. But encouraging news will be coming to you from Europe soon. In France, defeat had not brought internal peace. The new king had sworn to the Constitution, but both he and the old aristocracy and the Church were trying to regain their old privileges. Naturally, they ran into opposition from almost the entire bourgeoisie, the peasantry, the Army and all those sectors that the Revolution of 1789 had benefited. You couldn't go back in time as if nothing had happened. Clashes between political factions were increasingly violent. Napoleon received this news on Elba and prepared for his return. Spies loyal to the French monarchy advised England to move Napoleon to the island of Saint Helena to prevent his return. But it was too late. In February, he and his men returned to France. On his way to the capital, the various regiments of soldiers he meets decide to join the emperor. Soon after, the King of France, aware of Elba's flight, proclaimed Napoleon an enemy of world peace and ordered his immediate capture. Michel Ney, Napoleon's former general now in the service of the monarch, is commissioned to arrest him. However, when the two met, Ney and his 6,000 men joined Bonaparte. On his way to Paris, the Emperor makes speeches in which he promises peace, well-being and economic improvements. Something, especially the first, difficult to fulfill. In March 1815, Napoleon arrived in Paris without having fired a single shot. He had started the Hundred Day Empire until his defeat in Waterloo .

I learned a thing: you have to take this film like a funny period comedy, if you don't want to be disappointed. The film's enjoyable because it's a delicious comedy. I think the over-hype damaged it: the too much glorified Monica Bellucci appears in few scenes and isn't so good as they wanted to let you believe. She sounds unnatural, false: the best actress in this film is Sabrina Impacciatore, who speaks with a perfect Tuscan accent and shines together with Massimo Ceccherini. Elio Germano is very, very good: the most promising young Italian actor, according to me. Daniel Auteuil looks like Napoleon, but I preferred other actors. So, the most hyped performances were also the worst.

Costumes and production design are okay: sure, American period movies are more accurate about these things because have bigger budgets, but the Italian ability rewards the lack of money. A nice period comedy, in short, with a first-rate casting (except for Bellucci and Auteuil).

This film is about a young teacher who has strong opinion about Napoleon as a bad person. The teacher plots to get near Napoleon and kill him, but fate decides otherwise.

The production of the film is worth commenting. The sets are lavish all lavishly decorated down to every detail. Even scenes of the rather run down streets are well composed and realistically decorated. Costumes are excellent. Monica Bellucci gives a memorable performance in her argument scene in her bedroom with Martino. I think the plot is more comedy oriented, so the development of the bond between Napoleon and Martino is not strong enough. Otherwise, the film is entertaining to watch.

I bought this movie because Monica Bellucci of course, a Italian Goddess l love her however watching the movie l realize that Monica's character is merely decorative unfortunately, the plot is around the Teacher Martino (Elio Germano) and Napoleon (Daniel Auteuil) when the Tyrant went to island of Elba in exile he needs a person to write your memories even Martino hating Napoleon he accepts the invite to have a chance to kill him, the movie works like a Italian comedy as always with those extravagant characters talking loud in your language is very funny, the casting is amazing, they acting very well on their roles which complete this good picture!!!

The exaggerated way to speak using the native dialect of Tuscany and the characters loaded with an extremely theatrical mood, create a rather silly atmosphere. The actors are beautiful but not always of a good level, and the plot with its main ideas leaves a lot to be desired...

Would you like to know why French and Italians love/hate each others? Would you like to have a glimpse of history that drives our lifetime? So, go to watch Virzi's film (in original language, of course) and you can look at a wonderful Monica Bellucci who finally speaks her native language from Città di Castello (Umbria, just at the border with Tuscany). And the rest of the characters speaking Livornese (lovely Sabrina Impacciatore and all the others). Daniel Auteuil definitely in his shoes with Napoleon. A lot of fun, a real fresco of the Elba Island landscape, and a picture about the political reasons to kill or leave alive a tyrant (good for all times).