Napoleon the lawmaker: What Ridley Scott's film leaves out

Joaquin Phoenix in Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon.’ Napoleon was a prolific legislator who sponsored the Civil Code, later known as the Napoleonic Code. (Apple TV+)

Ridley Scott’s biopic Napoleon veers from battlefield to boudoir, portraying Bonaparte as a caricature of masculine excess.

Such sensationalism might sell, but critics maintain it comes at the cost of narrative coherence and historical accuracy.