The Emperor’s New Clothes

After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena where he died on May 5, 1821—or so the history books tell us. This romantic comedy conjures up a very different version of events in which an impostor takes Napoleon’s place in confinement and the former ruler sneaks back into France where he intends to resurrect his authority but instead rediscovers life as a commoner. Ian Holm is excellent as both the arrogant monarch and the lowlife opportunist who tastes and then refuses to relinquish the amenities of power and fame. The story about what we really need to be happy progresses through numerous near-giddy transitions and complications as the unrecognized despot uses military strategy to organize struggling melon vendors and falls in love with a self-reliant widow (High Fidelity’s Iben Hjejle).