Monsieur N

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 could have attended the ceremony of "Napoléon's" burial in the Invalides.

Reception

The film was well received and has a 70% "fresh" rating on film critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.

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.