| Monsieur N. | |
| Producer: | Pierre Kubel |
| Distributor: | Empire Pictures |
| Runtime: | 120 min. |
| Country: | France United Kingdom |
| Language: | French English Corsican |
| Budget: | $17 million [1] |
| Gross: | $860.094 [2] |
Monsieur N. is a 2003 British-French film directed by Antoine de Caunes. It tells the story of the last years of the life of the Emperor Napoléon (played by Philippe Torreton), who was imprisoned by the British on St Helena. Napoléon retained a loyal entourage of officers who helped him plot his escape, and evaded the attentions of Major-General Sir Hudson Lowe (Richard E. Grant), the island's overzealous Governor.
The film suggests that Napoléon could have escaped to Louisiana, where he died, and that the body exhumed and now at Les Invalides is that of Napoléon's officer Cipriani. The film also suggests that Napoléon and his young new English wife, Betsy Balcombe, could have attended the ceremony of "Napoléon's" burial in the Invalides.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French is imprisoned on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Here he, ostensibly, dreams of how to escape from his captivity in his last "battle".
In essence, the story is as convoluted as any of the escape myths that have surfaced at various times. There is plenty of intrigue around the former Emperor, with the poisoning of a trusted aide, the possible double-cross of a trusted officer, the frivolous relationship with a gold-digger lady of the entourage and the uncomfortable role of the British military authorities and especially, the new governor of the island prison.
All this is witnessed and narrated through a British officer tasked with shadowing Napoleon until the final twist of the plot is revealed.
The film was well-received., 71% of the 21 reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes are positive, with an average rating of 6.27/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Fueled by performances as polished as its visuals, Monsieur N. is a flawed yet largely absorbing look at an imagined chapter of Napoleon's exile."[3]
The film received a positive but guarded review in The New York Times, which praised Philippe Torreton's performance but thought the narrative too complex for an audience not initiated in Napoléon's history.[4]