Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon: The Director’s Cut” is potentially coming very soon. It’s just been rated R for strong violence, grisly images, sexual content, some nudity and language. This signifies clear intent on the part of Apple TV to make it available on their platform.
In late August 2023, we had broken the news that Scott was working on a director’s cut of “Napoleon” and that it would clock in at over 4 hours. It’s obviously piqued our interest since then. The theatrically released version had some narrative holes in it, and a director’s cut could potentially cure that.
Scott later told Total Film that it would be made available after the film’s November release. He called his lengthier cut “Fantastic” … Well, we’re still waiting, Ridley.
One person who much prefers the theatrically released version of “Napoleon” is its writer, David Scarpa. In an IndieWire interview, Scarpa admitted that the 158-minute version we watched in theaters is the “better,” “tighter” and “concise” version
Yea, 4 hours is obviously quite long. But the theatrical release wasn’t “tight” IMO. I personally felt the plot holes and narrative jumps very strongly and it turned me off of the film as I was watching it. Though I’ve only seen it once, I think it hurt the characterisation of Napoleon too. Whether a longer cut helps that, I’m not sure … but it seems more than plausible.
My experience with long films like this is to watch them in split sessions, even on adjacent days.
I once watched Barry Lyndon in 3 split sittings on 3 separate days and really enjoyed it. It’s basically like watching a short TV series.