Stars:
Ian Holm, Tim McInnerny, and Iben Hjeile
Writers:
Kevin Molony, Alan Taylor, and Herbie Wave
Based
On The Novel “The Death Of Napoleon” By: Simon Leys
Director:
Alan Taylor
Feature
length: 106 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 15
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Paramount Classics
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
The
Battle of Waterloo is over and Napoleon (Ian Holm) has been living a
comfortable, but frustrating life in exile. He switches places with Eugene
Lenormand (Ian Holm), a look-alike commoner and manages to escape his captivity
and eventually returns to France assuming a common lifestyle. The plan is that
once Napoleon has established himself in France, his double will reveal himself
to be an impostor. Thus the embarrassment to the crown will result in
Napoleon’s rightful assent back to the throne. However there are two hurdles
he never counted on.
His
impostor has grown quite attached to his new role in exile, which is far more
luxurious than anything he has ever had in his own life and so he decides to
live out his life playing this role, which means no one will believe that the
real Napoleon has returned to France. The embarrassment among the English who
were assigned to guard the Emperor and the powers that now run France would just
assume let the charade continue and throw anyone claiming to be the real
Napoleon outside of the one in exile into an asylum. If this is not complicated
enough for the former conqueror, he also has to contend with the fact that he
has fallen in love with the woman who has put him up. The result is a humorous
fable of sorts that questions what truly is important in life, Love or ambition?
Ian
Holm has played “Napoleon” before in Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits.”
While that was a caricature for a fantasy film, here he gets to explore the
historical figure with much more depth and as can be expected, Ian Holm does a
good job. The film plays with the historical context a bit and at times I must
confess that I felt compelled to look up Napoleon in my encyclopedia to get a
better grasp on the historical backdrop, but alas history is so subjective that
I decided to just take the film at face value and look upon it as an
entertaining mix of light comedy and drama.
Paramount
Home Entertainment presents “The Emperor’s New Clothes” in an anamorphic
widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio and the transfer is very nice with vibrant
colors and rich detail and little to no grain. The English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtrack is well mixed and an English Dolby Surround Soundtrack and
English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are encoded on to
the DVD as options too.
Unfortunately
there are no extra value materials of any kind on this DVD. The menus are
standard interactive still frames and are easy to navigate. I like “The
Emperor’s New Clothes” and think the DVD is definitely worth a rental unless
your are already familiar with the film and want it in your library regardless.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is available on DVD-Video now from Paramount
Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.