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MOVIES / ON DVD / MONSIEUR N.
Monsieur N.

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Monsieur N. (2005)

70%
67%
50%
N/A
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N/A
70 %
Reviews Counted: 20 Fresh: 14  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.3/10
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Theatrical Release: Jan 21, 2005 Limited
Synopsis:
On a snowy winter's day in Paris in December 1840, a body is returned and exhumed in a large, official ceremony. France's famous former ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, has died, and these are his remains, supposedly. Antoine de Caunes's MONSIEUR N. offers a fictitious mystery in the retelling of... [More]
On a snowy winter's day in Paris in December 1840, a body is returned and exhumed in a large, official ceremony. France's famous former ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, has died, and these are his remains, supposedly. Antoine de Caunes's MONSIEUR N. offers a fictitious mystery in the retelling of Bonaparte's (Philippe Torreton) final years. What he suggests is that the emperor may have escaped from exile, having faked his own death. In the years between 1816 and 1821, Bonaparte is a captive of the English on the remote island of St. Helena. He spends his days gardening, beekeeping, and writing his memoirs. A small inner circle of his compatriots surrounds him, most notably Cipriani (Bruno Putzulu). This otherwise tranquil existence is colored by the island's fallible characters. The unforgiving governor, Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant), is driven to deviant behavior over the rising cost of guarding a single prisoner with thousands of British soldiers. Furthermore, a jealous quibble develops between two ladies who vie for Bonaparte's love--an English woman named Betsy Balcombe (Siobhan Hewlett), and the wife of one of Bonaparte's generals. It seems that many want to curry favor with the former emperor, in order to eventually profit from his death. The story is told from the point of view of a young English lieutenant, Basil Heathcote (Jay Rodan), who is assigned to shadow Bonaparte during his exile. MONSIEUR N. employs a CITIZEN KANE-like narrative structure, using Heathcote's interrogations of the island's principal characters to trigger flashbacks to St. Helena 20 years earlier. Featuring breathtaking cinematography while posing an interesting question about history's possibilities, MONSIEUR N. uses the hazy real-life details of Bonaparte's death to suggest some believable conspiracy theories. [Less]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Philippe Torreton, Richard E. Grant, Jay Rodan, Siobhan Hewlett, Bruno Putzulu

Director: Antoine de Caunes
Screenwriter: Rene Manzor
Producer: Pierre Kubel, Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar
Composer: Stephan Eicher

DVD Info

Release:

Apr 17, 2007

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region (unknown)

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Reviews

 
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04/19/07 03:15 AM
Jason Ferguson
Orlando Weekly
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Casting, acting, production values, scripting and pacing all make for grand entertainment for discriminating filmgoers.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/07 03:47 AM
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International
N/R

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06/24/06 04:12 AM
Derek Adams
Time Out
N/R

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09/26/05 03:16 AM
Onion AV Club
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Unfortunately, that same suspense -- Poisoned wine! Secret pacts! Doppelgangers! -- is sometimes a little too stiff, making Monsieur N. play at times like a second-tier Agatha Christie mystery.

Full Review | Comment
04/14/05 03:15 PM
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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Exile is a complicated business for Napoleon Bonaparte.

Full Review | Comment
04/08/05 02:43 PM
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
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This richly produced tale of the last years of the famous 19th-century conqueror has a certain captivating quality about it.

Full Review | Comment
04/07/05 02:47 PM
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
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de Caunes has mounted a handsome production, [but] the film’s “surprises” are inherently predictable...

Full Review | Comment
03/24/05 04:51 PM
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat
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A film of polished ensemble performances, burnished period interiors and fine landscapes, but it's a little bloodless.

Full Review | Comment
03/10/05 05:41 PM
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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Though at over two hours the movie is too long and too slow, de Caunes sustains a sense of mystery and ambiguity to the end of what is both a satisfying character study and a stately quasi-thriller for amateur historians.

Full Review | Comment
03/10/05 03:02 PM
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly
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a disaster

Full Review | Comment
03/08/05 12:11 PM
Jay Antani
Filmcritic.com
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As modest conspiracy-mongering, the movie is perfectly robust, earning its dramatic impact from its classical sense of intrigue and Philippe Torreton's testy performance in the title role.

Full Review | Comment
01/25/05 11:08 AM
Ben Kenigsberg
Village Voice
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Even when the script takes a turn for the chatty, there's always something pretty to look at.

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01/21/05 05:01 PM
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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Pretentious and melodramatic.

Full Review | Comment
01/21/05 04:58 PM
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
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Screenwriter Rene Manzor weaves a tangled web of speculation, but de Caunes, following his vampire feature debut Love Bites, has no clue how to dramatize this intrigue.

Full Review | Comment
01/21/05 04:56 PM
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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Dramatically dense, neatly thesped and visually involving.

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01/20/05 05:33 PM
Lisa Nesselson
Variety
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Monsieur N, Antoine de Caunes's densely plotted costume drama, suggests that Napoleon's demise might have been an elaborate hoax through which he escaped into anonymity.

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01/20/05 05:30 PM
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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Handsomely designed and photographed, impeccably played, and both satisfyingly complex and ingeniously plausible.

Full Review | Comment
05/14/04 08:16 AM
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
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With some excellent staging, fine cinematography and first-rate acting, the film largely overcomes the awe it demonstrates for its principal character and succeeds in creating a mystery where perhaps there is none.

Full Review | Comment
05/04/04 02:29 PM
Ray Bennett
Hollywood Reporter
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04/24/04 08:25 AM
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette
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Related Forums

REEL_REVIEWER
MONSIEUR N. is a highly romanticized historical rumor...where did Napoleon die?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/2/05


REEL_REVIEWER
MONSIEUR N. is a highly romanticized historical rumor...where did Napoleon die?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/2/05


REEL_REVIEWER
MONSIEUR N. is a highly romanticized historical rumor...where did Napoleon die?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/2/05


REEL_REVIEWER
MONSIEUR N. is a highly romanticized historical rumor...where did Napoleon die?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 6/2/05

Around the Network

• Monsieur N. at Rotten Tomatoes
• Monsieur N. at AskMen
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