The Emperor's New Clothes (2001): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2001, The Emperor's New Clothes is a comedy and drama film directed by Alan Taylor, running about 107 minutes. “The world's most powerful man is about to fight his greatest battle... between love and glory.” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. Napoleon, exiled, devises a plan to retake the throne. He'll swap places with commoner Eugene Lenormand, sneak into Paris, then Lenormand will reveal himself and Napoleon will regain his throne. Things don't go at all well; first, the journey proves more difficult than expected, but more disastrously, Lenormand enjoys himself too much to reveal the deception. Napoleon adjusts somewhat uneasily to the life of a commoner while waiting, while Lenormand gorges on rich food.

Who’s in it. The Emperor's New Clothes stars Ian Holm as Napoleon Bonaparte / Sergeant Eugene Lenormand, Iben Hjejle as Nicole 'Pumpkin' Truchaut, Tim McInnerny as Dr. Lambert and Nigel Terry as Montholon, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.7/10, The Emperor's New Clothes has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can rent or buy it from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies and YouTube. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch The Emperor's New Clothes page.

If you liked it. Fans of The Emperor's New Clothes tend to enjoy Forrest Gump, Parasite, Life Is Beautiful and Fight Club.