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Paris, 1804. Following the end of the Treaty of Amiens, which the British didn't follow through since they didn't evacuate from Malta and Alexandria, French First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte is anxious and senses a new Coalition will declare war on him. Napoleon's family, including brother Lucien and sisters Pauline and Caroline, urge him to declare himself the King. Napoleon thus orders a referendum which gives him the wanted result, and he stages his own coronation. His marriage with Josephine is troubled since he sometimes has affairs with Elisabeth de Vauday. Now the Emperor of France, Napoleon and his army travel to Austerlitz in December 1805, where they win over the Austrian and Russian armies in a battle.
Even though his famous film "Napoleon" was too expensive to initiate new movies about the famous French military leader, director Abel Gance still directed another Napoleon film 33 years later, "Austerlitz", where he at least gave a glimpse of what he wanted to show by depicting one of his most famous military campaigns, the Battle at Austerlitz. Overlong and overburdened with a running time of three hours, "Austerlitz" is, unlike "Napoleon", a very static and conventionally filmmed story, but Gance gives a lot of effort in historical accuracy and depiction of details of that era. The main highlight is the leading actor Pierre Mondy, who is brilliant and energetic as Napoleon. However, the first half, the "talkative" segment, is uneven and somewhat dry. Bizarrely, the film starts off like a goofy spoof, de-glamourazing the myth: it shows Napoleon exiting a spa and talking to his assistant who wears the Napoleonic hat to widen it as to make it fit for the French military leader, while Napoleon even stands on his toes to make himself appear taller when the assistant registers his height of 5'4. Later, the movie improves: in one scene, Josephine is angry that Napoleon has a secret lover, Grassini, yet his reply is: "But my feelings stop at her breast".
In the military headquarters, Napoleon, wearing his military uniform, enters the room through a door on the giant map of France. Despite lengthy dialogues, numerous events and reactions to them feel organic, and give the impression that the viewers really are looking at a documentary of Napoleon in office bringing decisions based on new developments. He is a hothead and impulsive, yet still calm, measured and intelligent enough to warrant every decision he makes. Upon hearing the British are again planning a new war against him, Napoleon orders a plan of attack: "We must compensate for 10 years of insults in two months!" When he randomly decides to declare himself the King tomorrow, his associate protests: "Pardon, Sir, it's impossible," to which Napoleon replies: "In France, we admire the impossible!" Gance certainly is fascinated by this personality. The cast is huge, including numerous stars in small roles, from Vittorio De Sica as the Pope up to Orson Welles (who 10 years later starred in another Napoleon film, "Waterloo"), yet the second half, depicting the Battle at Austerlitz in great details, is underwhelming, since it's not quite clear who is fighting whom: we only see random hundreds of people on horses charging at other people on horses. Gance doesn't have a sense to direct action or battle sequences, which leaves this second half messy and chaotic, often even sloppy (it's supposed to be winter, but the trees still have green leaves on them), except for a little famous detail at the end, the ambush at the frozen lake, where the French army shoots at the ice which breaks and drowns several retreating enemy soldiers. "Austerlitz" gives a small peek at Gance's vision of making a movie about the entirety of Napoleon's life: it's flawed, yet has its moments. Like most of movies about Napoleon, this one is good, but never quite reaches the pathos of his events.
Grade:++
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