Unfortunately, that same suspense -- Poisoned wine! Secret pacts! Doppelgangers! -- is sometimes a little too stiff, making Monsieur N. play at times like a second-tier Agatha Christie mystery.

| Apr 14, 2005

This richly produced tale of the last years of the famous 19th-century conqueror has a certain captivating quality about it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 7, 2005

A film of polished ensemble performances, burnished period interiors and fine landscapes, but it's a little bloodless.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 10, 2005

Though at over two hours the movie is too long and too slow, de Caunes sustains a sense of mystery and ambiguity to the end of what is both a satisfying character study and a stately quasi-thriller for amateur historians.

Full Review | Mar 10, 2005

As modest conspiracy-mongering, the movie is perfectly robust, earning its dramatic impact from its classical sense of intrigue and Philippe Torreton's testy performance in the title role.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2005

Pretentious and melodramatic.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 21, 2005

Screenwriter Rene Manzor weaves a tangled web of speculation, but de Caunes, following his vampire feature debut Love Bites, has no clue how to dramatize this intrigue.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 21, 2005

Dramatically dense, neatly thesped and visually involving.

Full Review | Jan 20, 2005

Monsieur N, Antoine de Caunes's densely plotted costume drama, suggests that Napoleon's demise might have been an elaborate hoax through which he escaped into anonymity.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 20, 2005

Handsomely designed and photographed, impeccably played, and both satisfyingly complex and ingeniously plausible.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 14, 2004

With some excellent staging, fine cinematography and first-rate acting, the film largely overcomes the awe it demonstrates for its principal character and succeeds in creating a mystery where perhaps there is none.

Full Review | May 4, 2004

A turgid mystery thriller.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 20, 2004