How accurate IS Ridley Scott’s Napoleon? From Marie Antoinette’s hair to shooting the pyramids with a cannon – experts reveal film’s made-up scenes after it riled French critics

• Trailer shows Marie Antoinette with flowing curly hair as she is put to death
• But the fallen French queen had her hair viciously cut before she was guillotined 
• Napoleon’s forces did not shoot the pyramids during their campaign in Egypt 

With its general release still a week away, Ridley Scott’s new Napoleon biopic has managed to ruffle some critics’ feathers.

Reviewers in the French media this week branded it ‘deeply clumsy’ and ‘boring’ and described Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon as a ‘petulant man-child’.

But some have also taken issue with the film’s inaccuracies, despite the fact that reviews in the UK and US have been largely positive.

Taking issue with scenes in the trailer, historian Dan Snow pointed out that Napoleon was not present at Marie Antoinette’s execution.

It was also noted that the fallen queen’s hair was shorn – not long and curly as is depicted – when she was guillotined. 

And Napoleon’s escapades in Egypt did not include the targeting of the pyramids, but the film shows them being shot with cannons.  

Below, MailOnline delves into these inaccuracies and more.  

With its general release still a week away, Ridley Scott’s new Napoleon biopic has managed to ruffle some critics’ feathers. Reviewers in the French media this week branded it ‘deeply clumsy’ and ‘boring’ and described Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon as a ‘petulant man-child’

Antoinette’s hair was cropped when she was executed and she wasn’t wearing a black dress

The film’s trailer also shows Antoinette with a shock of frizzy hair as she defiantly makes her way to the guillotine in front of a baying mob.

But the French queen in fact had closely cropped hair when she was put to death, after it was shorn by her captors.

She is also seen in Scott’s production wearing a black dress. 

Although she had wanted to wear black, she was forced to don a white dress – the colour worn by widowed queens of France. 

Marie Antoinette – portrayed by Catherine Walker – is seen in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon with a shock of curly hair before she is executed

Napoleon wasn’t there at Marie Antoinette’s execution

In the trailer for the film, Napoleon is seen watching on as Marie Antoinette is guillotined in front of a baying crowd in Paris during the French Revolution.

In reality, the future French emperor was on the other side of the country at the time.

He was taking part in the Siege of Toulon, in which he played a key role in forcing forces led by Britain to withdraw.

Antoinette was executed after a trial in which she was accused of incest with her son. Her husband, King Louis XVI, had been guillotined eight months earlier.     

In the trailer for the film, Napoleon is seen watching on as Marie Antoinette is guillotined in front of a baying crowd in Paris during the French Revolution

Marie Antoinette likely wasn’t defiant as she was put to death

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Thursday, French academic Dr Estelle Paranque said she was irritated by Scott’s feisty depiction of Antoinette.

‘It did annoy me a little because he made her kind of fearless and a bit feisty, and at the time honestly she was not,’ she said. 

She added: ‘She tried to remain dignified at the end, but I don’t think she would have been that bold. And obviously Napoleon wasn’t there.’

 French academic Dr Estelle Paranque said she was irritated by Scott’s feisty depiction of Antoinette. ‘It did annoy me a little because he made her kind of fearless and a bit feisty, and at the time honestly she was not,’ she said

Antoinette was executed after a trial in which she was accused of incest with her son

Napoleon didn’t target the pyramids

The Napoleon trailer also shows the emperor’s troops shooting at the pyramids during his escapades in Egypt.

A cannon is seen being loaded, aimed and then fired at the top of the ancient structures.

But historian Dan Snow took issue with the scene in a TikTok analysis.

He said: ‘We are seeing this 12-pound cannon firing at maximum elevation. Can it hit the top of the pyramids from where they are standing? I very much doubt that.

‘And also Napoleon didn’t shoot at the pyramids, and the Battle of the Pyramids, so-called, was not fought at the base of the pyramids.’

The Napoleon trailer also shows the emperor’s troops shooting at the pyramids during his escapades in Egypt

Historian Dan Snow took issue with the scene in a TikTok analysis. Above: The moment cannon fire hits one of the pyramids

Napoleon didn’t come from nothing, or conquer everything

A promotional poster for the film includes the defiant strapline: ‘He came from nothing. He conquered everything’.

But Snow pointed out that Napoleon’s father was an aristocrat. 

Carlo Bonaparte and Napoleon’s mother Maria lived in their palatial ancestral home on the island of Corsica, where the emperor grew up.

Napoleon’s father rose to become Corsica’s representative in the court of Louis XVI. 

The Bonaparte family were also descended from Tuscan nobles who emigrated to Corsica in the 16th century.

A promotional poster for the film includes the defiant strapline: ‘He came from nothing. He conquered everything’

As for the claim that he ‘conquered everything’, despite his best efforts Napoleon did not conquer Britain.

His planned invasion was never even attempted. Although an invasion force did gather on the French coast, Napoleon’s campaigns in Austria and Egypt meant they never departed for British shores.

The plans were conclusively shelved in 1802, when the Treaty of Amiens put a pause to hostilities between Britain and France. 

Napoleon never led a cavalry charge

The film also depicts Napoleon careering into battle atop his horse. 

But Snow points out that the French emperor never led a cavalry charge.

Napoleon did however order cavalry attacks in various battles and was present when fighting took place. 

Despite his historic defeats in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was largely successful in battle.

Of 60 battles fought by his forces, only seven ended in defeat.  

The film also depicts Napoleon careering into battle atop his horse. But Snow points out that the French emperor never led a cavalry charge

French outlet Le Figaro said in its review that the film should be renamed ‘Barbie and Ken under the Empire’ and added that Napoleon is portrayed as a ‘sentimental brute with a gun in hand and quick to shed a tear’.

Canadian French-language newspaper Le Devoir led with the headline ‘Not Waterloo, but not Austerlitz either,’ referencing Napoleon’s futile last stand in Belgium and his tactical ‘masterpiece’ against the Russians in today’s Czechia.

The article described Phoenix’s Napoleon as a ‘petulant man-child who doesn’t really seem to know what he’s doing’.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Scott hit back at critics, telling them to ‘get a life’ when presed.

‘There are 400 books written about him. Maybe the first one was the most accurate, the next one is already doing a version of the author,’ he said.

‘By the time you get to book 399, guess what, there’s a lot of speculation.’

He also responded to claims of inaccuracies by telling France Inter Radio: ‘My answer to them is, “How do you know? Were you there?”‘

He added that he was speculating about history, but stuck close to the facts that are known about Napoleon, including by examining his letters. 

Responding to Scott’s defence, historian Guy Walters said: ‘Ridley Scott has resorted to that time-dishonoured and lamest excuse for getting his history wrong in his Napoleon film. 

‘Telling people “you can’t know because you weren’t there” negates the whole pursuit of historical knowledge, and basically gives you a pass to make it all up

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