The 77th Cannes Film Festival kicked off Tuesday with a historic screening of Abel Gance’s restored 1927 masterpiece “Napoleon”, months after French critics heaped scorn on Ridley Scott’s “Anglo-Saxon” take on the French emperor.
A few steps from the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, home to the annual film gathering, an eagle-shaped stone carving marks the spot where Napoleon camped for a night after his flight from Elba – the starting point of a heady 100-day cavalcade that ended with his final defeat at Waterloo.
