A portrait of France’s little big man

With U.S.-French relations at a modern-day low, it may seem like a strange time for an American network to be celebrating the life of France’s greatest warrior with an epic miniseries.

Thankfully, A&E;’s two-part, four-hour “Napoleon,” airing tonight and Wednesday at 8 p.m., won’t make relations any more acrimonious.

“Napoleon” can be tedious at times as one battle leads to the next, but ultimately it proves to be a compelling portrait of an ambitious man who is more complicated and fascinating than the simple courageous conqueror or megalomaniacal despot many of us know from other versions of his story.

The generous miniseries format allows Napoleon Bonaparte’s destiny to unfold in rich detail, and director Yves Simoneau and writer Didier Decoin, adapting Max Gallo’s biography “Napoleon,” wisely devote plenty of attention to the emperor’s private battles as well as his conquests and defeats in war.

The saga begins as Napoleon, played by French actor Christian Clavier with impeccably pitched tenacity, nears his 1821 death in lonely exile on St. Helena, a small and squalid island lost in the South Atlantic, reflecting on his rise to power more than two decades earlier during the revolutionary period of terror and upheaval in France.

Asserting his republican convictions, the Corsican general quashes a royalist riot by firing a cannon into the crowd, creating a bloodbath but saving the revolution and, at 27, Bonaparte is on the march toward glory as leader of the French army.

Though he conquers many European rivals with clever and daring moves, one of Napoleon’s early defeats comes in a battle for Egypt against the Turks and the English as he underestimates the brutal sun. Still, Napoleon quickly turns the mili- tary fiasco into a conquest of spirit by noting that the scientists he brought along made important discoveries in the desert, and with his bulldog delivery, Clavier leaves no room for doubting him.

The lush costumes and European locations help set the mood, but the potent international cast brings the period most vividly to life.

As Josephine, the Creole beauty who became Napoleon’s first wife and stayed loyal to him even when he sacrificed their love, Isabella Rossellini embodies jubilation and heartbreak with equal conviction as their relationship evolves. Anouk Aimee lends icy precision to her portrayal of Napoleon’s stern, stubborn mother, Marie Letizia, who resents Josephine with a scorned passion.

Playing the diplomat Talleyrand, John Malkovich makes yet another shrewd, duplicitous schemer seem utterly original, and Gerard Depardieu portrays Napoleon’s ruthless and equally conniving security chief, Fouche, with understated menace. These two characters may be distasteful, but French politics has rarely been such wicked fun.

By the time Napoleon suffers his most bitter defeat at Waterloo, you probably won’t love him or hate him. But you will surely have a new admiration for the man and his time.

*

‘Napoleon’

Where: A&E;

When: Tonight and Wednesday,

8 p.m. (with repeats at 10 p.m. and midnight)

Rating: TV-PG (may be inappropriate for young children)