Review by Harvey Karten
3 stars out of 4
What would you rather be: an ordinary guy, maybe a
shopkeeper but with a beautiful woman who loves you, or a
major player on the world scene, possibly with women chasing
after you but none who really connect with you? In "The
Emperor's New Clothes," Alan Taylor's imaginative retelling of
the days of Napoleon after his defeat at Waterloo, the 5'6" hero
of France trades places with a drunken commoner in a
successful escape from the island of St. Helena where he is
guarded by a small company of British troops. His plan is to
land in Paris and yet again rally the tricolor in an attempt to
restore the French Empire in Europe. Plans go awry, but
perhaps the best known figure of the Bonaparte clan gets more
than he ever hoped for when he finds the woman of his dreams.
Backed with a spirited soundtrack by Rachel Portman and
photographed on the island of Malta with scenes from the noted
Cinecitta studio, "The Emperor's New Clothes" lets fantasy fly in
a trading-places parody in which one man goes from rags to
riches while another tumbles the opposite way. How the real
Napoleon (who in this fable does not die of a stomach disease
in 1821) ultimately relinquishes all hope for a resurgence of
nationalism and is all the happier for doing so, is the subject of
the movie which is taken from Simon Leys novel "The Death of
Napoleon."
NYU Film School graduate Alan Taylor, whose first feature,
"Palookaville," is a whimsical look at three friends and their
foray into petty crime, scores once again the second time
around with a stab at historical revisionism. Napoleon (Ian
Holm) stands about on a rock in St. Helena overlooking crystal
clear water but in no way shares the ecstasy of the tourist.
Determined to escape from the troops in his airy prison, he sets
up a double (played as well by Ian Holm), a fellow by the name
of Eugene who has to learn to walk and talk in an imperial way
to convince the guards that he is in fact the emperor. While
Napoleon makes his way via Belgium to Paris, he meets the
lovely, newly widowed Pumpkin (Dutch actress Iben Hjejle) and
her son Gerard (Tom Watson). Though the impoverished seller
of melons, Pumpkin, is pursued by Dr. Lambert (Tim
McInnerny), she is smitten by the short man whom she accepts
as eccentric. The only troops that Napoleon succeeds in
rousing are the neighborhood fruit vendors, with whom he
establishes an intricate plan of action to triple their business.
As his grandiose plan falls apart, Taylor milks the principal
comic action from Eugene's refusal to turn himself in as an
imposter, now insisting that he is actually the emperor and
enjoying his about face from a man with a mop to the exiled
leader of France.
"The Emperor's New Clothes" is in no way the sort of comedy
that Moliere would write. The film's joy comes from its quiet
humor, its moments of realistic romance and poignant
disappointments, its affirmation of the gratifications of
serendipitous developments. Napoleon may have found a wife
in Josephine, but to his wholly unexpected surprise he finds
authentic love in his declining year that of an ordinary human
being for another..
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
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