I, Napoleon: Blurred Boundaries in Napoleonic Performance

The French actor Albert Dieudonné (1889-1976) is best known for his extraordinary performance as Napoleon – or, more specifically, Bonaparte – in Abel Gance’s silent epic Napoléon vu par Abel Gance (1927). For the rest of his life, rumours abounded that Dieudonné had actually come to believe he really was Napoleon. In this respect, he was part of a long tradition of fluid boundaries between actor and role in Napoleonic performance in France. What makes Dieudonné so distinctive, however, is not just the quality of his performance, nor his inability to let go of being Bonaparte – but his explicit engagement in later works with the meaning and power of playing Napoleon. This chapter situates his legendary performance in the wider context of Napoleonic performance in French theatre and cinema, exploring Dieudonné’s later relationship to Napoleon as historical figure and as role through his work as a novelist, director, and playwright.