Ridley Scott Responds To Napoleon Criticism By French Media: “The French Don’t Even Like Themselves”

Director Ridley Scott is once again on the defensive for his Napoleon biopic. After the film’s trailer was picked apart by a historian on TikTok–though admitting he would still love to see the movie and will probably enjoy it–the director is taking shots from maybe the self-crowned Emperor’s biggest fans: the French.

Despite Napoleon being well-received in many parts of the UK media including Five Stars in the Guardian and Four Stars in The Timesfor this “spectacular historical epic,” the French critics have been less than kind, but the director isn’t worried.

“The French don’t even like themselves,” Scott told the BBC. “The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.” The French newspaper Le Figaro said the film could be renamed “Barbie and Ken under the Empire.” French GQ said there was something “deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny” in seeing French soldiers shouting “Vive La France” with American accents.

Most scathing yet, Patrice Gueniffey, a notable Napoleon biographer in Le Point magazine, attacked the film. He went as far as calling it “very anti-French and very pro-British.”

Scott fired back at his critics, both with expertise in French history and not, questioning, “Were you there? Oh, you weren’t there. Then how do you know?”

Napoleon hits theaters on November 22.