Nearly a thousand films have been recorded based on the First Empire (1), an absolute record in the world, with three hundred actors playing Napoleon. But among these, one film and one actor stand out.
In 1927, a major work in the history of cinema was released on world screens, Abel Gance's Napoléon. In the role of Napoleon, a young man would experience his hour of glory, dazzlingly embodying General Bonaparte. Her name? Albert Dieudonné. On this subject we can speak of a "Dieudonné mystery", because this actor, beyond his flamboyant performance in this film, never completely recovered from this role which would stick with him until the end of his life.
First shoots
Born in Paris in 1889, Albert Sorré (he took his mother's name "Dieudonné" to pursue a career) was undoubtedly predestined to be an actor: his grandfather and his aunt were both theater actors at that time. Cinematography – as they say at the time – made its appearance in 1895 with the Lumière brothers, and young Albert immediately guessed that he would be a film actor: he played his first film in 1908 (The Assassination of the Duke Disguised). He was only nineteen years old then.
The war of 1914 did not interrupt his career because, "discharged for constitutional weakness" in 1909, he was transferred to the reserves, which allowed him to play in several films during the war, where he had the chance to make a name for himself. notice by Abel Gance: La Folie du Dr tube (1915); The Periscope (1916); The Madman on the Cliff (1916). However, he was recalled in 1917 and finished the war in a Train regiment. Then he tried his hand at the role of director in 1924, co-signing with Jean Renoir a work, Catherine ou une vie sans joie. Actor, director, and screenwriter, he is already establishing himself as the one-man orchestra of the beginnings of French cinema. But Albert Dieudonné is awaiting his hour of glory. She will come soon, thanks to her talent, and to Abel Gance.
The movie of a lifetime
Abel Gance, born the same year as him, made his mark in 1911 by signing a pamphlet “What is the cinematograph? a 6th art” (like theater, but the 7th according to today’s classification). Already known before the war, he entered the legend in 1927 with his masterpiece, Napoleon seen by Abel Gance. It is the story of this work that will upset our hero Albert Dieudonné. The film was inspired by David W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation in 1920, which tells the saga of an American family surrounding the Civil War. It is also very likely that the commemorations of the centenary of Napoleon's birth, in 1921, also inspired the director.
Abel Gance then imagines a pharaonic project: it involves dividing the life of Napoleon into six sequences (from Brienne to Saint Helena), each lasting 4 to 5 hours. He announced it himself thus to his collaborators: “This film will allow us to enter the temple of the arts through the gigantic door of History. » To achieve such a blockbuster, he had to find adequate financing, which could only be European: he thought he would find it in 1923 from a White Russian emigrant and a German producer; the premature death of the German financier suspended filming for a time, before a French company joined the conglomerate, encouraging it to return to a more modest project, so to speak: a single episode to begin this historical fresco, from Brienne to the First Italian Campaign, although the version is very long (from 3h15 to 6h depending on the version). Filming will last almost two years (1925 and 1926), and involve more than forty actors, two hundred technicians, and a thousand extras. If most of the scenes are filmed in the studio (in Billancourt), filming in Briançon, Toulon, and Corsica – where the population will give him a triumphant welcome (2) – is planned.
The genius of Abel Gance can then be fully exercised: as it was a silent film at the time, it is the lyricism of the images, the breathless rhythm, the ambient music, a setting grandiose scene, a romantic hero, commensurate with the central character, more than the historical rigor, which must ensure the success of the film. The posters advertise without lying “a wonderful lesson in enthusiasm, loyalty, patriotism, and faith”!
The reasons for the success of this quasi-hagiographic work are numerous: the projection on three screens (triptych); the lyrical music of Honegger; the use of metaphor (the French flag which serves as a sail for the young Bonaparte embarking for France, or the eagle landing on a cannon at the Brienne school...). But it is also above all the masterful interpretation of a charismatic young actor who leaves his mark on the film.
We were able to consult the advertisement published to recruit the central character of Napoleon: "[...] blue eyes, small size, thin, self-confident, a lot of self-esteem, touchy character" (sic). What a strong portrait! We see in this regard that the legend of the Emperor's small size lives hard: Napoleon had a completely respectable height for the time (1.68 m), and this is only in the company of the men of his Guard, recruited for their large size, that he seemed small... On the other hand, the thinness required to play the young Bonaparte is legitimate, even if it is mainly out of derision that the English
nicknamed “Boney”.
Albert Dieudonné was selected following this announcement because he had, with the young Bonaparte, a disturbing physical resemblance, even if he was at the time of the events around ten years older than his character. His upward gaze in particular, so well transcribed in the film, made the difference. Abel Gance, for his part, embodies the role – illuminated – of Saint-Just!
Even if the film will ultimately be a failure on a financial level (the cramped rooms of the time did not always produce the effect expected by the technique), it is above all the transition to talking cinema that deals a blow to the cinema of 'Abel Gance: indeed, an unfortunate coincidence, at the end of 1927 The Jazz Singer (United States) became the first film with sound in history. But for Albert Dieudonné, the film Napoléon will seal his destiny for the following fifty years…
After Abel Gance's film
Following the success of the film, Albert Dieudonné undertook the writing of a strange book, derived from his personal experience during filming, which he entitled Le Tsar Napoléon (published in 1928): this novel, which could be described as our days of "political fiction", recounts the imaginary filming in the 1920s of a French film about Napoleon, in Soviet Russia, with thirty thousand extras from the ranks of the Red Army. But Albert Dieudonné imagines that the actor, recruited in Paris to play the role of Napoleon, is none other than the Tsarevich, miraculously escaped from the massacre perpetrated in 1918 by the Soviets in Yekaterinburg; the actor-pretender, who had nevertheless renounced any project of restoring the monarchy, lets himself be carried away by the enthusiasm of the Cossack extras and then undertakes a political reconquest of power. We can strictly say that it is an “18 Brumaire” in Kyiv: the author makes the putschist actor say in front of the frightened members of the Politburo of Ukraine: “What have you done with this Russia which was admired by the world? » which repeats almost word for word the address of General Bonaparte returning from Egypt to the Directory: “What have you done with this France that I had left you so brilliant? »
We could elaborate on the fact that this approach, via the prism of a Russian Napoleon, is not so far from reality: if Napoleon had been able to marry, as he had once envisaged, a Russian princess... We could see also an anti-communist pamphlet: didn’t Albert Dieudonné go so far as to call Russia the “Union of Bloody Soviet Republics”? In short, like the first Tintin released a year earlier, a sort of “Napoleon in the Land of the Soviets”…
We can also detect the desire, even the need, to prolong the atmosphere of the film which had been praised for almost two years, in the middle of mostly Russian extras of emigration, undoubtedly a consequence of the main lesser white Russian background. A deep post-film melancholy grips the actor who was the subject of scenes of popular jubilation during filming (notably in Ajaccio!) and upon release of the film. This book allows him to appropriate some of the power released during the film and extend it. Perhaps he dreams of making a film about it?
Albert Dieudonné will continue to ride the wave of his Napoleon since Abel Gance made a talking version of the 1927 film in 1935, renamed “Napoléon Bonaparte”. He took care to have the actors recite the exact text planned, which greatly facilitated the synchronization work.
After trying his hand at a few film scripts (notably The Gentleness of Loving with the first appearance of Arletty in 1930), the Second World War, which he spent in Paris, allowed him to step up again. general of the Italian army, one could say: that he once again embodies the character of Napoleon, in the film Madame Sans-Gêne, masterfully interpreted by Arletty in 1941.
Another era
After the war, almost forgotten, he gave lectures on Napoleon, before embarking on writing a one-act dramatic comedy, the title of which says a lot about the man since it is entitled Moi, Napoléon (1957), which he performed himself in the theater. A moving text full of nostalgia since it concerns an old actor, a former interpreter of the role of Napoleon, who to overcome oblivion thinks he is Napoleon... Selected pieces: during the filming of a film American at Malmaison, where he is reduced to being a museum guard, he sighs: “Don’t you see what’s happening to me? they will revive him, the Emperor… without me”… “From time to time, I evoke a phase of the Emperor’s destiny, I create a real life for myself by invoking shadows; at times, I think I have the same thoughts as Him; I believe I am Him.” Autobiographical text, one could say!
It must be said that the years 1950 to 1970 saw a profusion of films about Napoleon. In 1955 Sacha Guitry released his grandiose Napoléon, with Daniel Gélin in the title role then Raymond Pellegrin (Sacha Guitry himself playing Talleyrand). 1960 saw the big return of Abel Gance, with the film Austerlitz; if this time it is Pierre Mondy who has the role of Napoleon, it nevertheless constitutes a new sequence of the 1927 film. Finally, in 1971, it is Claude Lelouch who takes up a proposal from Abel Gance to André Malraux given the bicentenary of the birth of Napoleon in 1969, by producing a reworked version of the original 1927 film entitled Bonaparte and the Revolution, which once again puts the spotlight on Albert Dieudonné's breathtaking performance at the time.
It should be noted that the masterful Waterloo, released in 1970 and shot partly in the USSR and in Eastern countries (where Rod Steiger plays the role of Napoleon), with the participation of more than twenty thousand Soviet soldiers, must have given the Kremlin a cold sweat for those who had read the Russian novel by Albert Dieudonné!
Character identification
In the preface to the 2005 reissue of the novel Le Tsar Napoléon, Éric Leguèbe recounts an anecdote that says a lot about Albert Dieudonné's state of mind in the post-war years: as he walks past the theater where a play is being performed with Émile Drain in the role of Napoleon (it is The lame Devil, by Sacha Guitry), Albert Dieudonné says to the actress Arletty who accompanied him: "Let's go see how he plays me! » Quip? not sure... Jean Tulard confirmed that he ended up taking himself for General Bonaparte (3).
Psychologists have affirmed that the feeling of power, attached to playing a masterful historical character, reinforced by intoxicating cheers from the extras or the audience, could lead to a metamorphosis of the actor. Can we then speak of a process of incarnation of Dieudonné in Napoleon?
In this respect, we must incriminate the "Stanislavski Method" also known as the "Actor Studio": this, invented by the Russian Stanislavski in the 1920s, is based on the loss of the actor's own identity in the point of living the role 24 hours a day; this method, undoubtedly a guarantee of success, is still used today, despite its excesses: for example, Kirk Douglas in Van Gogh, Collin Firth in The King's Speech, Al Pacino in Scarface have all admitted to having had difficulties to return to their own identity: the first by continuing to comb their hair, shave and dress like Van Gogh, the second by stuttering like King George VI, the third by maintaining a strong Cuban accent, all three long after their film...
An actor, to play Napoleon well, must convince himself that he “is” Napoleon; such was the case of the great actors who “were” the Emperor. The question that remains is whether, after playing Napoleon, all the actors end up becoming a little infatuated with the character, intoxicated by a role which makes them, for the duration of a film, the one who said "I am not a man, I am a historical character” and that the post-film depression would thus plunge them into a daze, blurring the boundaries between the role and reality.
To support this reflection, let us recall that there is a famous precedent: the actor Edmond Duquesne, who died in 1918, who ended his days insane, undoubtedly following his role as Napoleon in Madame Sans-Gêne, 1911 film: according to Albert Dieudonné himself (who had met him), he was convinced of being the reincarnation of Napoleon... Other textbook cases exist: the return of the Emperor's Ashes in 1840 had such an impact at the time that fourteen “Napoleons”, undoubtedly victims of an unprecedented emotional shock, were subsequently interned in the Bicêtre asylum.
So, did Albert Dieudonné suffer an alteration in his personality, following an emotional shock produced by this intoxicating role of all-powerful leader, and the disillusionments that followed? Or is it not rather Abel Gance who favored this state through his megalomania (remember that title of the 1927 version is Napoléon seen by Abel Gance) and his taste for excessive works, often flirting with the madness of men (see his early works La Folie du Dr tube or Le Fou de la cliff)?
We may find the key to the “Dieudonné mystery” in his private life; in the 1950s, he bought the castle of a small town in Indre-et-Loire, Courçay, in Touraine. This residence will of course be richly decorated with portraits of the Empire. But passion is not madness. Let's go further: twice married, the first time with Yvette Dessertenne (the actress who still played Elisa, Napoleon's sister, in the 1927 Napoleon), then with Jacqueline Lamaze; from her, he had a son, Claude, born in Paris in 1944: who will be a polytechnician and company manager (died in 2017). It will surprise no one that the whole village – including his father – affectionately nicknamed him “the Eaglet”. Didn’t Albert Dieudonné’s entourage keep him in this Napoleonic fiction?
But it is the end of his life that holds the biggest surprise: before passing away in 1976, at the age of eighty-seven, Albert Dieudonné demanded to be buried in his Napoleon costume! We can see his tomb, however soberly built, in the village cemetery, with the simple mention of “Dieudonné-Lamaze family”. He had chosen to keep his acting name, made official in 1965. The town hall of Courçay paid him a wonderful tribute in 2017, by naming him an honorary citizen and renaming a street “Napoléon”. It is of course the one that leads to his castle (4)...
An incredible enigma
Thanks to him and Abel Gance, the 1927 Napoléon is the only French silent film known in the United States (along with The Artist, since 2011). Note that a new version of the 1927 film is in preparation under the direction of Francis Ford Coppola (the author of Apocalypse now, current owner of the world rights – outside France – of the 1927 film, and fervent admirer of Abel Gance ( his father co-produced the music for the original film!) And that a restored version has been in progress for several years with the Cinémathèque.
Without reaching madness – which would be excessive – we can affirm that Albert Dieudonné did not emerge from this film unscathed. This is undoubtedly the characteristic of all the actors brought to melt into a dizzying character, whose omnipotence reflects somewhat on them. The time of a film – and the shooting was excessively long: two years! –, Albert Dieudonné had become a charismatic leader who was blindly obeyed. Bonaparte had embodied the Revolution, he could well have embodied Bonaparte. By so intensely marrying the clothes of the Emperor, who is said to have declared to Saint Helena “What a novel my life is!” », he also made his life a legend. This will have been his destiny. In his play Moi, Napoléon, makes his character who has fallen into oblivion say: “I wanted to become again who I once was”. Isn’t that the key to the enigma?
(1) Hervé Dumont, Napoleon, the epic in 1000 films, 2015.
(2) An exhibition in Ajaccio in 2016 traced the fascination of the Corsican population during the filming.
(3) Napoleon’s lover's dictionary, “Abel Gance” section.
(4) See on this subject the film Bernard, Albert, and the Emperor, produced by Les Films de l’œil sauvage.
The Norton I case
The case of Joshua Norton, who died in San Francisco in 1880, deserves to be noted: following a bankruptcy, this businessman fell into a split personality, so much so that for twenty years he pretended to be, “Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America.” The city's population plays the game by showing him the signs of respect due to his rank, he signs decrees and pretends to correspond with the greatest foreign sovereigns. For the record, this authentic story inspired Lucky Lucke's comic strip Emperor Smith (1976).