Only Ridley Scott might have taken on a project as ambitious as Napoleon and avoided embarrassment. If he doesn’t entirely succeed, this may be because the subject is simply too vast, too complex, to be crammed into 2½ hours.

There are thousands of books on Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), and new ones are published every other month. Every campaign, every letter, every aspect of his private life or personality, has been scrutinised by professional historians and enthusiastic amateurs. Keep reading and rather than him becoming more familiar, he only grows more mysterious.