DESIREE
Well, here you are finally.
Thanks Heaven.
Desiree, you realize how late you are Where were you?
I'll catch up.
Your brother and sister and I were concern about you.
I went for a walk.
A walk?
In the park.
Are you trying to say that you went for a walk through the park?
Desiree don't crumble your bread
A walk in the park at this hour? That's foolish.
Anything could happen to a young girl alone.
I wasn't alone, I was with a young man.
Yes, a young man.
He came into our shop at closing time, he want to look at some silk.
You walked about the town with a complete stranger?
He's not a complete stranger, he introduce himself.
Finish your soup Desiree, is cold enough already.
That's scandalous!
I still have my virtue, Julie, honestly.
You are impossible.
He did hold my elbow.
Who tell her about these things? Marie?
It's improper, you are no longer a child.
That's the first time in this house that anyone...
Has admitted I'm not a child.
I did it for you.
For me?
I told him all about you.
How beautiful you are, how bright...
It was only a half-lie.
Julie should met some men.
It would be easier for us if she had a husband.
Marie, please kindly clear the table.
He's from Corsica, a refugee.
Refugee indeed, adventurer more likely.
Is very dangerous in this time to assume...
Ettiene it has been five years since the revolution
We don't know what this young man's about.
I told you he was about some silk.
Anyway, I've invite him to visit us tomorrow.
To visit us?
He has a brother he told me all about.
This is disgraceful.
They live in Marsseille, the brother is visiting.
You will have to cancel that invitation.
But his brother is a general.
Even general are suspect in these days.
But I've never seen a real general close-up.
Some times... Yes?
Some times...?
Some times my family make me sick.
I'm sorry..
I didn't mean it, I love my family.
I love you all.
Desiree you have to accept one fact...
Since Papa die I'm the head of the family and I...
Is really not enough time to cancel the invitation.
Is he handsome, the one for me?
Oh, very handsome by daylight.
But I haven't seen him by moonlight.
Do these adventurers have a name?
Bonapat or Buonaparte something like that.
Bonaparte what an impossible name...
Madame
Good Evening.
Bonaparte, Joseph Bonaparte.
We were very happy you could accept my sister's invitation.
Thank you, sir.
My brother Napoleon.
We are also glad that you could come citizen general.
It was not difficult, I had not where to go.
My brother means that no one else had been kind enough to invite us.
What I mean is...that after hearing Joseph tell of your charming daughters
I could have gone nowhere else Madame Clary.
Yes, shall we be...uh, seated?
Thank you
Citizen General.
Thank You.
We shall have some wine presently
Well, you have a lovely garden.
Its early yet, when the lilacs are out...
and the climbing roses, round the summerhouse
that is...the roses are out but in the autumn the lilacs...
Your brother is too young to be a general.
Not necessarily madam.
Lafayette was a general at 20.
Has your brother be a general long.
Since last year when he command the troops...
and drove the English out of Toulon.
Toulon… mademoiselle I'm sure you've heard of it.
Sometimes my ignorance is beyond belief...
Would it be indiscreet citizen general...
to inquire whether or not you are in our city on official business?
I have no command at present...
But I shortly expect to be in charge of the Italian campaign.
Italian? But we are not in war with Italy.
Its my own personal idea I've told Robespierre about it...
Is it true that Robespierre closed all the House of Pleasure in Paris?
Desiree!
Please forgive my sister, sometimes...
Your sister has the happy faculty...
of saying the first thing that comes into her mind.
She is without guile, a quality almost unbelievable in a woman.
Desiree doesn't drink wine yet.
Why not? Wine is healthful, strengthening.
Please.
Young girls don't need strengthening.
If you will permit me one slight contradiction, madame.
They often do.
Yes, citizen Clary, we must press on to offensive war in Italy
Offensive war?
It is our sacred duty to instil into all European people
our great ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity.
and, if necessary, with the help of the cannon.
And now which one of you two ladys will be kind enough to show me your garden.
You were staring at me in the parlor.
What were you staring at?
Your uniform.
I didn't think a general could be so shabby.
You must be very... poor.
I am Desiree.
Tell me when do you think my brother and your sister will be married.?
Married?
Yes. They're made for each other.
I spoke to Joseph about it last night.
But last night they hadn't even met.
Last night you and I hadn't even met.
And here we are arm in arm in a magic garden.
Flowers blooming music playing...
We must hurry or we lose them.
Exactly.
Confess you must thought yesterday when
you invited Joseph that it would be a good idea for your sister to marry him.
I thought nothing of the sort.
You mustn't never pretend with me Desiree.
Wait, we better give them a chance to get better acquainted...
before they betrothe.
I should like to know why you are so concern about this marriage.
Shh, I tell you.
Your family obviously very well-to-do...
I'm sure that your father left a considerable dowry for you and your sister.
Do you mean your brother would want to marry Julie only for her dowry.?
How can you say that? She's a lovely girl.
She's in anyway almost as lovely as yourself.
I'm sure that Joseph find her delightful.
And they will be very happy together.
I'm going to tell Julie every word you've said.
Exactly, that's why I'm explaining it to you so carefully.
You see I want my family to be well settled, Joshep will be the first.
The other will have to wait till I have my attempt victories.
And you think you can make people do as you wish
The life will come out just as you plan it?
Have you ever heard of destiny, Desiree?
Desiree, desired one.
It's a beautiful name it becomes you.
I will probably kiss you before very long.
And not for your dowry.
They play the Marseillaise every night.
In the park.
It's always the last number.
Today that song its played throughout France.
Tomorrow it will be played throughout Europe.
A ragged army marching on wooden shoes.
And you don't believe in destiny.
No one knows what's ahead.
Strange most people say that.
I know what's ahead.
I one of the men that makes history.
You laugh?
Well, I'm afraid I always try to laugh.
You lied.
Wine is not strengthening.
I wish...the night
Could have gone...on...
and on and on.
What are you doing?
I'm starting the diary Papa gave me.
Finally, I have something to write in it.
Did he kiss you?
Julie!
Did yours kiss you?
Please...a girl allows herself to be kissed only...
Well she allows...
Oh, you're still too young, to understand these things.
How...
can...
it...
happens so quickly?
Are you having a daydream up there?
What are you thinking about?
I was thinking that life is very simple.
Life is never simple, but I agreed being in love...
helps to make it less complicated.
This is an attractive piece.
Oh, it's too brittle. This piece is better.
See those gold threads? That gives it vitality
You're a born silk merchant's daughter
Papa always said is in my blood.
This is for Julie wedding gown.
Quite unfashionable, we've sold none since the revolution.
But the ladies in Paris are no longer ladies.
Today everything they were is transparent.
Oh, Surely, not everything.
General Napoleon Bonaparte?
Yes?
We went first to your barracks, sir.
They told me we could find you here.
Well, what is it?
Warrent for the arrest of Citizen General Bonaparte.
Napoleon.
Was this issued with the knolewdge of citizen Robespierre?
I regret to inform you that citizen Robespierre was guillotined in Paris three days ago.
I must go with them, please inform my family.
I don't know where they live?
17 Rue Pavillon.
Even on a summer day a sergeant’s uniform should be fastened properly.
Where will they take you?
I don't know. It doesn't matter.
Wait for me, I'll be back.
What have I said from the start.: adventurer.
Well, this will be the end of him.
Napoleone.
I've just been release, I can't stay here.
You must be cold.
Only my feet.
Come and sit down I have many things to tell you.
Was it bad?
No, specially when one consider the little packages
I hopo you got them
I did. The books, the wine, the cake...
And the underdrawers.
Were they the right size?
Almost.
What happened?
They charge me with plotting against the government.
But the men in the Ministry of Defense are gentlemen...
and when they found they had no evidence...
they ordered me to duty.
I'm so glad you're free.
I am to report at once to special mission,
for tracking down hidden royalists.
Would it be dangerous?
I'm an artillery expert not a policeman.
It'll keep me away from the front, let me be forgotten.
You could ask for a discharge.
You might joint Etienne in the firm.
Are you mad?
Do you realise that I'm the best general in France..
do you really believe I'd work in a silk shop?
I didn't mean any offense.
Is anyone there?
Come into the house.
Who is there? Who is it?
It's me, General Bonaparte.
It can not be you, you're in prison.
You'll get wet.
Anyway, what are you doing here in the middle of the night in this weather?
Napoleon!
Be still!
With whom are you talking?
He's talking to me.
General you owe me an explanation.
I'll give you an explanation.
I have the honor to request your sister's hand in marriage.
No! With all my strenght.. No!
One Buonaparte is quite enough in a family.
Loon!
Desiree come inside at once!
Did you mean that, or were you angry?
About my hand?
How could one help being angry? Your brother shout at me like a loon...
and you ask me to become a ribbon peddle.
Obviously I meant it.
I came here directly from prison with the express purpose to ask you to marry me.
Will you marry me?
Yes, Oh, yes.
You'd better go in
No, it's lovely out here.
I must go now, say good bye to my family.
I'm leaving for Paris in the morning.
For Paris.
Yes, I must speak with a gentleman in the Ministry.
But you can't, if you go to Paris you'll be disobeying your orders.
And perhaps I'll be shot.
Can you loan me some money?
Well, I only have 98 francs in my drawer.
98 francs will do, throw them down when you get upstairs.
I'll go to Paris and convince them.
And when I come back we'll be married
Please remember that I love you.
Oh, Paulette, have you ever seen such silk?
Oh!
Isn't this a loving piece of material.
This'll make a beautiful gown, don't you think?.
I told you a hundred times before you're not to handle our silk by any of you.
Just because your brother Joseph married my sister
is not reason why should I have to put up with the entire Buonaparte family.
Oh, it's not Bounaparte any longer.
Yes, yes, I know he changed it, its Napoleon Bonaparte.
But it is easier to pronounce.
Frankly I wish I'd never heard it.
The next time you write your brother tell him Desiree won't wait forever.
She hasn't heard from him in months.
That's because he's having such a wonderful time in Paris.
You know he hobnot with all the diplomats and politicians.
And he spent must of his time in salons.
All famous people gather there.
And drink champagne all day long.
A man who spend his time that way
Doesn't deserve to marry a girl like Desiree.
Ouch!!
Desiree where are you going?
To Paris.
Desiree!
Who is she?
De Beauharnais!
Josephine.
Josephine?
Yes.
What do you wish, Mademoiselle?
I wish to go in.
Do you have an invitation?
No, but I believe I know someone who's probable in there.
Are you a friend of Madame Talienne?
No.
Well, if you have no escort, I can not allow you to enter.
But, I must go in.
But I've told you, you can't enter unless you are a personal friend
or are with a gentleman...
Ladies like you must keep to the Rue St. Honore.
Now, if you don't mind...
Oh!
I'm very sorry citizeness.
It was really my fault.
Oh, I beg your pardon.
I should like to belong to you...
This is hardly the time or the place.
No, I mean for a few mementos only... until we get inside.
You see I must go in, but I have no escort.
Please forgive me, I shouldn't have bother
No bother.
Whom shall I announce General?
Your name citizeness?
Desiree.
And the rest of it?
General Jean-Baptiste Bernardotte.
And citizeness Desiree...
You found him yet?
No...How do you know?
What a surprise!
What a pleasant surprise, General Bernardotte!
I've just return from the front, Madame Talienne.
As always, my first pleasure is to joint your magic circle.
Returning from the front, it's flattering, but I see you've found a companion in Paris.
Yes, by a happy chance.
The moment the citezeness and I saw one another, we fell into each other's arms.
Well, old friend or not my dear you'll going to have to share him with us.
I want to show you the most fantastic woman.
He was a waiter my dear, a waiter.
And now he's Madame Racomiert's lover.
Oh, no!
Oh, he's gone so low.
My motto would be "Never be in a hurry".
People will not stand for the bread shortage much longer...
After all, they did not win a revolution for that.
Is he teaching you to speak Corsican, Madame?
It's impossible for you to understand anything simple, Monsieur Talleyrand.
I love Napoleon, and he loves me.
Believe me its not y our soul he loves nor your body...
Its your influence.
Oh, come now, you forget yourself.
Yes, I guess so, but I'm carried away by the truth.
Perhaps you seeks glory, my darling.
But we won't be grudge by that, won't we?
The pursuit of glory creates solely a great hero...
contempt of it creates a great man.
Perhaps the pursuit of an extraordinary woman can creates both.
You're becoming an expert at that.
Yes, yes, well, everyone a toast, a toast...
To General Bonaparte and his beloved Josephine.
May they be as happy married as they are singles.
Desiree!!
Please remember that I love you...
Mademoiselle...What is it?
Let me go...
Come, I'll take you home.
No, leave me alone.
Put me down!
Drive along, anywhere.
Yes, sir.
Back to Madame Talienne's?
No!
Anywhere.
I disgrace you at Madame Talienne's.
I...I should apologize.
I apologize.
I'm not sorry for anything else,
I threw champagne at her dress on purpose.
Champagne leaves spots...
She's far most beautiful than I...
A lady of the world.
I really must try not to cry so much.
I'll get your coat wet,
Don't worry tears don't leave spots.
We were to have been married
I believe in him as I never believe in another human being.
Now, without a word he just...
Really it doesn't have to be the end of everything.
Oh, it does, it does.
In the life of every woman there is only one great love.
How could you be that certain?
It say so in all the novels, it must be true.
I really don't like discussing another man's affairs.
But there is something you should know about General Bonaparte.
Aside for his interest in Josephine, he was engage for
a long time with the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant in Marseilles.
His brother's married her sister.
So, you see, he wouldn't have married you in any case.
He's choice is between a bumpkin with a large dowry and a paramount with useful connections...
Unfortunately you have neither dowry or useful connections.
How do you know that?
I can tell by looking at you.
Perhaps that's why you are so attractive.
13 Rue Tabac.
Would you allow me to call on you tomorrow?
Aren't you in love with her?
Good heavens, who?
Madame Taliennes.
No, I'm in love with you.
Oh, I can't bear a General, none of you...
Well there are Generals and Generals...
Again, will you allow me to call on you tomorrow?
NO.
Perhaps, I'm too old.
I'm leaving Paris tomorrow for Mar...
I'm leaving Paris tomorrow.
And I'm never going to return.
13 Rue Tabac.
Good night and thank you.
Truly many thanks.
Don't worry, I'll go in and stay.
It's not that, it just...
What I said just now...
I was teasing of course, in a way...
But you are the very most attractive...
Oh, it wouldn't do it, General, really not.
It isn't that you are too old for me...
but you can see for yourself.
I'm much too short for you.
December 15, 1797.
I suppose by now the whole world knows Napoleon Bonaparte.
His face is everywhere, they call him the strong man of France, ever since he conquered Italy.
Just as he said he would.
He certainly has taken care of his family.
Who ever thought Joseph would be Ambassador of the French Republic in Rome?
Anyway, I'm glad Julie ask me to come and stay with them.
Marseilles has too many memories...
and who knows?
Diplomatic life may be interesting.
Diplomatic life is dull, dull, dull...
and this gloomy palace...
these cold floors and high ceilings...
and these awful statues...
at any moment I expect them to turn into fountains spouting water...
from all sort of unlikely places.
And it's always so drafty and...Ah-Choo!
Oh, one thing is certain...I hate palaces.
You are glad you came to Paris with us, don't you?
Yes.
You are quite sure you want to come to his dinner party?
Yes.
We'll be close by, if...
Well, now that he's married to Josephine, of course...
Do you feel anything for him anymore?
No!
No.
His Excellency and Madame Joseph Bonaparte and Mademoiselle Clary.
Julie.
Madame.
Joseph.
Madame.
Welcome to Malmaison, Mademoiselle.
It's good of you to come.
The delight is completely mine, madame.
Good evening.
It's inconceivable, the little girl I once knew.
Desiree you become a temptress
You've not seen me in a long time General.
Too long.
Your success as our Ambassador in Vienna...
I intend to stay in Paris as long as Joseph and Julie are here, General.
I shall see that they remain indefinitely.
The tradition of the great diplomats...
Ah, Bernadotte, you know my brother and his wife.
You seem to be acquainted with the young lady.
I don't recall that I am.
Joseph, Julie come and meet everybody.
Them allow me to present her, Miss Clary, General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.
The British isles can never be invaded by the sea.
But here is another way.
Can you image batallion transported across the channel by air?
By air?
Huge balloons constructed to remain aloft for hours.
Each carrying a half dozen men.
I've seen the design's fantastic possibilities.
All of this, of course, it will have to wait.
It is now safe to reveal something that Bernadotte and a few others know.
In a few weeks, I should leave for the Egyptian campaign.
We will sail from Toulon with 400 ships..
and Two thousand pieces of artillery.
We will unite East and West
40 centuries will look down upon us and we will not disappointed them.
What do you make of it, Bernadotte?
Egypt...
It will prove that cannon is more effective than bow and arrow.
You misjudge my motives...
Victory in Egypt, if necessary, is one more step,
In bringing order and peace to Europe.
Order and peace with conquest.
I'll tell you frankly if I were Minister of Defense, I'd forbid you to sail.
Then we must make certain that you're not made Minister of Defense.
At least until after I depart.
General Bernadotte doesn't approve of conquest...
Not even of ladies.
It must have been painful for you in Vienna without one at court.
At court and elsewhere.
Perhaps you never found the right lady.
I found her once but she simply vanished.
I drink to her memory.
This one over here it's called the Donna Velota.
I've seen it somewhere.
It used to hang in Italy
and I borrowed it.
Her smile reminds me of your wife's.
Your tone is cold.
Did you expect it to be otherwise?
I thought I done everything I could to make it up to you.
By sending me every eligible bachelor you knew.
I choose only my must trusted aids...
soldiers who have distinguished themselves in the field of battle...
I am not a decoration to be rewarded for some deserving officer.
It's time you were married.
Believe me, only in marriage can a woman find the real meaning in life.
I should like to throw these candlesticks at you.
Well...if you must, let's not set fire to the place.
Desiree, I must make you understand...
Without Josephine I could not have achieve command in Italy.
As a result of that, deeds await me of which
the present generation cannot even dream.
These chuckleheads who call me bloodthirsty mad, ambitious,
I'm none of these.
I am the French Revolution.
And I shall know how to protect it.
The Crown of France lies in the gutter...
It needs only to be pick it up...
with the point of a sword.
Do you understand that?
Do you?
I don't...I'm not certain.
We must be friends always.
The garden are lovely here in Malmaison.
There are chestnut trees.
And a lake with black and white swans,
and a charming little building...
No, I don't want to walk in the garden with you again, ever!
Would you object madam,
If I invited your sister for a little drive.?
But of course General, any afternoon..
I meant right now.
Yes, right now.
But it's after dark.
Only a little.
A silk merchant's daughter from Marseilles...
Why didn't you tell me?
I was too proud.
I was too confident.
I called the next day at the house at the rue Tabac.
They would tell me nothing about you.
I asked them not to.
Thereby cost us a waste of three years.
But I thought of you many times.
Have I changed?
You're more nourished.
And I no longer hate Paris.
It must be the loveliest place in the world.
I never want to leave.
Nor I.
Except that I'll probably be in command of troops again,
but I found a house
that should be perfect for you and the child.
What child?
Our child of course.
Ordinarily I'm a man of manners and protocol.
I'd call on you, and your family, bring you flowers,
Take you to the theater.
I'd do whatever is required of a man before he proposing.
Three years is enough time to waste.
Oh, no, please.
There's no help for it.
You're the second man I've ever kissed.
Do it again.
I was born in a small city
called Pau in Gascony.
My father was a clerk in a law office.
Joined the army when I was 17.
You're not the second girl I've ever kissed.
I don't mind really.
I'm not apologizing.
One more statistic.
Ever since the moment I left you that night in the rue Tabac.
I've been in love with you.
I met him first. I loved him.
You will always know that.
Do you still love him?
I haven't found out yet.
I hope not.
You think you could ever be in love with me?
I think so...
My sweet General of the bridge.
Then we'd better risk the other.
Perhaps it doesn't matter that I-no...
No, I meant perhaps it doesn't matter...
that I'm too short for you.
The trousseu's all ready.
I embroidered the monogram long ago.
B's but...I didn't know they'd be for Benardotte.
Look at him, he's red. He's crab red.
He looks so offended
Perhaps because we named him Oscar.
You can be sure I had nothing to say about it.
It's a hideous name.
It is a noble name.
It belongs to a Nordic Hero.
May we join this happy occasion?
Of course.
We're honored.
We've come to pay our compliments to the Bernadotte Dynasty.
Well...
How small he is.
They're always small at the beginning.
Oh, I brought these for you.
They are beautiful.
They are from our garden in Malmaison.
They are lovely. I put them in a vase.
May I come with you?
Please.
There we are.
There baby, all right.
Quiet baby.
I hear that you're not please about my return from Egypt.
A commander's place is with his troops.
I returned to the place I was needed most.
The situation here is desperate,
riots, corruption, political murders...
The government won't last out the month.
I've tried and tried to grow stems like these.
I took envy in your roses.
I envy you your son.
Some day I hope he'll come to visit one of yours and Napoleon's.
It's kind of you to hope that.
Strange isn't it?
With my first husband, I didn't really wish for children...
And I had two quite quickly, for I was twenty.
In fact...
You're not speaking of leadership.
What you suggest is dictatorship with you as the dictator.
I'll tell you what it's up to us Bernadotte...
It's up to the general of the army to save the republic.
What do you object to?
Your methods...
I see, but I must know who support me and who does not.
It force me to know where do you stand?
You came here to ask me to join in treason...
I must ask you to leave my house.
Well, your husband is a very stubborn man.
Write that on November 9, 1799...
Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed the first consul of the French Republic.
Those who tried to walk out of the chamber of deputies in protest...
were turned back at the exits...
by the bayonets of Bonaparte's aides.
If we're forced to flee...
I could dress as a boy.
You've been reading novels again.
Desiree, have you heard?
Joseph's to be Foreign Minister.
And we're moving to the Tuileries.
Josephine's going to do everything over...
It's all so dingy and old-fashioned.
Her appartment's to be in white...
Imagine me, Julie Clary, in the Tuileries.
You're not still writing in your diary!
Oh, Ha, Ha, How funny!
Why funny?
Because everything's so different...
I have an order from the first consul.
General Bernadotte is to report to him, tomorrow at 11:00.
So very different.
The Nation has chosen me as its guardian...
We've averted civil war.
Bernadotte I ask you to join my council of state.
Why do you do this?
Because France can not afford to lose
One of her most able man.
Listen to me Bernadotte.
Listen to some of the things I've planned.
A unified code of laws...
a bank of France...
We need new roads and harbors...
I will abolish hereditary titles...
all these things and more...
A new program for the republic...
You're the last man of consequence to oppose it.
I've never oppose the republic.
Then you accept?
Well I'm delight. I'm delight for yourself as well as for your wife.
She was never one to lurk in alleyways.
Pasting up inflammatory posters.
And Bernadotte if you chose to number yourself among my friends...
Well. you'll be most welcome...
I give you my loyalty.
I cannot promise you affection.
Oscar, it's time for your lunch.
Desiree, you're late already for the coronation rehearsal.
I never saw such a girl...
The old dragon gets grouchier every year.
Mama, will the Emperor wear his crown to bed?
I don't know dear, it may be too heavy for him.
Nor for Napoleon.
Emperor of the French.
Remember that night when he came to visit us in Marseille?
Would you ever have dreamed it then?
No, but I'm sure he did, he always felt that nothing was beyond him.
Look Mama, I'm a Marshal of France, Just like Papa.
Do you know his brother wants me to call him Marshal "My Lord", even his wife.
I never heard you do it.
Oh, I do...but only in our bedroom.
Desiree!
Notre Dame. The interior of Notre Dame, dressed for his majesty's coronation.
Behold, if you please, his majesty.
Lo...her majesty.
The Imperial Orb so, the sceptre thus,
the sword of Charlemagne thus...
You ladies each a wife of a Marshal of France accordingly...
Now, the organ peals, the procession begins.
Lightly, gracefully, and above all joyously...
Her majesty start so...
The sisters of his gracious majesty...
lift the train of her majesty's robe...
I don't want to carry the train...
Neither I, she can pull it by herself, let her walk on her knees...
Mesdames, I implore you...
It is his majesty's expressed wish.
Not if he throws me out of France.
Madame Bernadotte we haven't seen you in some time.
How is your family?
Very well your majesty.
Your little boy, is he growing fast?
Very fast, thank you your majesty.
What is it, Monsieur Duprier?
Your Majesty, she's the Emperor's sister but she is also the wife of a Marshal...
Well?
18 Marshal's wives, 9 pairs side by side...
But she's also to help carry her majesty's train..
This leaves 17 ladies only...
How can 17 ladies form 2s, none to walk by themselves?
Might I be of assistance in this difficult and strategic operation?
You see, we will have only 16 Marshals' wives in the procession..
The extra one, the odd one, will carry...
one on her majesty's lace handkerchiefs.
On a pillow.
Now, I think that will be a very poetic touch.
A stroke of genius, your majesty.
Now, I think we should allow...Uh,
Uh, Madame, uh...
Madame Bernadotte the responsibility of this.
I think she will look lovely in sky blue.
Sky blue isn't becoming to me, I haven't worn it in years.
Yes, well...
Proceed, I will watch.
Ladies, if you please, your positions.
Organist.
So, Your Majesty if I may be permitted.
So, now ladies, we remember our position as we rehearsed them?
So, Your Majesty, mesdames...
Her Majesty's train, I implore you.
Madame Bernadotte, in your position, if you please.
So, Music.
1 and 2 and 3 and 4...
And lightly, gracefully, joyously...
Happily.
Left and right and...
What seem to be the difficulty?
We refuse to carry her train.
We're made to do the job of page girls.
You've heaped honors in everybody, but what are we?
Your own sisters.
Nothing.
Well, what exactly do you wish to be?
If you want to know, a princess.
Yes, a princess.
I thought I treated my family with more distinction that they deserved.
You're Marshalls' wives!.
Your husband is in the Ministry of Finance, a fiddle player!
You are the countess Bourges!
Yes, you made me marry the only man I knew I wasn't the tiniest bit in love with.
Sir, I beg you graciously that you grant your sisters' request.
So that we may get on with the rehearsal.
Princesses of what? Where?
Very well. kneel.
Now each of you are an Imperial Highness, a princess.
Now, will you kindly arise and carry the train?
Sire, it is about the virgins.
What about them?
None can be found at court.
Why must we have them?
His majesty command that the coronation be modelled...
in every details after the medieval ceremony at Durance...
Thus, 12 virgins must walk to the altar...
after the anointing of Emperor.
I am sure they are at least 12 suitable ladies left in France.
In sky blue.
Last week the army even drafted the son of the coachman.
Do you know how old is he?
He is fifteen.
What country will he die in?
Bavaria?
Spain?
I tell you they are taking boys of 15.
I know Mary.
My nephew's at the Austrian front.
My brother's only son.
The marched him away with roses tied to his musket.
Everything went wrong.
They can't find any virgins.
And Josephine's crown with the other ladies, doesn't fit properly.
She and Napoleon are having a church wedding tonight.
The Pope won't crown them unless they do.
They only had a civil ceremony before.
What's this?
It came for you this afternoon from the Imperial household.
And I'm to have a special role.
I don't dance with all the other wives.
I come in all alone carrying Josephine's handkerchief on a cushion.
Isn't that quaint?
He's ask me to wear sky blue, which I detest.
I don't care for you having a special role.
He wishes...
What did you say?
The Emperor wished it, that I can't very well do anything about it.
The Emperor wished it?
Jean?
Every time he sees you, the comedy, the opera, his receptions, now...
That's ridiculous!
Do you realize how long it's been since he and...
I'm nothing but a memory to him.
Yes, a memory he'd undoubtedly like to refresh.
"Madame la Marschal...
In Marseilles, you kindly lent me some of your savings...
so that I might travel to Paris...
This journey had bought me good fortune...
It is an obligation I take pleasure in meeting today...
The amount involved at this time was...
...was 98 francs..
Thank you, Napoleon".
If he cannot forget it's because I'm part of his youth.
I won't go to the coronation.
I'll stay in bed with a cold.
I'm seriously ill with a cold, headache and sore throat.
And I cannot take part of the coronation ceremony.
Oh, I love you very much.
And I...
I'm not going to cry...
Heavens! He crowned himself!
A long time ago I pressed these roses Josephine brought me.
Even then I think she knew what would happen...
And later, I remember the way she looked at him at the coronation.
Just five years back almost to the day.
Well, this is one of his affairs I won't attend.
This time I am staying in bed with a cold I don't have.
For several years past I've lost all hopes of having children...
for my beloved wife, the Empress Josephine.
Yet political necessities of my monarchy
requires that I leave heirs to the throne, on with providence replace me...
The interest of France demand...
the dissolution of our marriage.
I wish to state that my marriage is an obstacle...
to the welfare of the nation.
as I no longer expect to be able...
to fulfill my...
obligations.
To fulfill my obligations, I resigned to my love...
I owe everything to his majesty's kindness...
As occupant of the throne on which he places me...
I have received abundant testimony of the love and affection of the French people.
It is with regard of these sentiments
that I consent's to the wishes of my regal consul.
You were the only one who stayed away.
Perhaps I was the only one who knew how you really felt.
That's why I sent for you.
I wanted someone with me who knew how I really felt.
I have to leave in the morning.
The workmen are coming to redecorate the rooms.
You were the only one who stayed away.
Her Majesty wishes to retire now. Finish that in the morning.
Not "her majesty" anymore.
Please take the rest of this, it will help you to sleep.
I've had so much already.
You threw a glass of champagne on me once.
I made you very unhappy.
Forgive me.
I didn't mean to.
It's long ago and long since healed.
You ought to tint your hair, Desiree.
When you wash it...
just a little.
Give it a reddish glow.
It would be lovely.
Yes Madame.
It would be lovely.
She's...
She's only 18, you know...
That Marie-Louise...
that Austrian princess he's marrying.
She's....she's a Hapsburg
The Hapsburgs are very prolific...
She'll have no end of little princes.
No end of little Hapsburg Bonapartes.
I must leave now, madam.
Please, he always knew I couldn't have a child by him.
I told him so.
I even told him why.
He always knew, Desiree.
He...
He always knew.
Don't desert him, Desiree.
When he loses his powers, he'll need someone.
Who's there?
Me.
Who's me?
I was just leaving.
To begin with, what are you doing here?
I wonder myself, her majesty sent for me.
Oh, for consolation, I suppose.
How very inventive of her to choose you.
I always envied Josephine's sense of theater.
You are unkind sir, she's truly heartbroken.
Don't whistle so with pity.
She leaves with 700 dresses, 250 hats, 3 million francs a year...
Has she been crying?
Yes.
Well, she'll cry for several days.
Have a facial massage and go out and order ten new gowns.
If you'll just show me the way out of here...
The door to the hall is there,
Don't you want to put your shoes on first?
Desiree.
Citizeness Desiree.
Tell me, how is that fine fellow, your brother?
He's been living here for some time.
There is now a Paris branch of Clary and Son.
Oh, yes Clary and son.
I remember you wanted me to go to work for him...
Selling ribbons, I believe.
Yes, your majesty.
Well, we're quite different people now, aren't we?
Or are we the same?
If I may have my shoes, please.
It's a pity you're married to Bernadotte.
Well, to the future, them.
Marie-Louise of Austria.
Politically, she's very desirable.
There is a certain look of fertility about her.
You don't approve of this marriage?
I do not approve of your divorce, sire.
I marry and divorce for France.
And you will kindly stop calling me sire?.
This belonged to the last Austrian to inhabit these quarters...
Marie Antoniette.
The new Austrian undoubtedly want to waltz.
I never learned, teach me.
I cannot! Not here.
Here...
and now.
We are different.
I will not try to kiss you again.
Let us waltz.
No.
We will waltz.
No. You have to keep on turning.
1,2, 3...
2, 3...
1, 2, 3...
"Our armies are everywhere now, even in Spain...
and my husband's been heaped with honors.
Oscar's likes best Denmark's order of the elephant.
But Jean-Baptiste treasures this one from Sweden.
Since he's been wounded and sent home, the last time...
I have seen him look at it often.
With a most curious smile."
Desiree.
Desiree, wake up.
Wake up, hurry!
Put something around you.
Why must I wake up?
What is it, Papa?
There is a new lord?
You'll heard all about it, just hurry.
There have been rumors for some time. I didn't want to tell you.
Help Madame Bernadotte, a robe, anything. Do you understand?
No, I don't understand a thing!.
As chamberlain of his majesty, Charles XIII...
I have the honor to report that the Swedish parliament...
has unanimously elected...
Jean-Baptiste Barnadotte heir to the throne of Sweden.
Heir...to the throne.?
King Charles wishes to adopt Marshal Bernadotte as his beloved son...
and receive him as a Crown Princes.
That would mean that I'd be crown princess of Sweden.
Yes, Madame.
And eventually, Queen.
Queen?
But I don't know how to be a Queen.
We regret that you are not at time to become accustomed to the idea.
We shall await your decision.
I'll make it quickly.
You gentlemen must have had a long and timed journey.
You must join us for a glass of wine..
Look Papa, three crowns and a lion.
What a beautiful coat of arms.
Please, tell me why the Sweden chose my husband.
Madame Bernadotte has not occupied herself with affairs of state.
Madame, for a century now, the importance of Sweden as a great nation
has been failing.
Our present king is very old, he's childless.
If he dies without a heir...
there are certain forces within the nation that may provoke civil war.
If that happens our country may well disappears...
We're an ancient state madame, we want to survive.
My husband is not Swedish.
Precisely, we need fresh blood.
We need a man on stature that Europe respects.
To be honest, we need a marshal of France.
And Bernadotte ei the only marshal who is not servile to Napoleon.
But I'd have not learn Swedish.
I'm terrible at languages.
Your Royal Highness I trust I will be your guide ...
May I teach you your first Swedish word?
Skaal.
Sk.. skaal.
Well, you submitted a remarkable request, Bernadotte.
You wish to surrender your French citizenship.
and resign from the army.
I can respect a man's desires to ascent a throne
but to changes his nationality is extremely incomprehensible.
My brother Joseph is King of Spain, and he remains a French citizen.
Louis King of Holland but he would't like anybody calling him a Dutchman.
Jerome of Westphalia, Marshal Murat, Caroline's husband
King of Naples, all rulers, yet all still Frenchmen.
Madame Bernadotte have you given considerable thoughts to this matter?
I have sir.
Do you know where Sweden is?
The North Pole.
Crown Princess of Icicle land.
And always in want, tell her something of Swedish court ceremony.
It is very rigid madam.
The Swedish Royal House is extremely conventional.
My feet hurt sire, may I sit down?
The Swedish Royal House is also mad.
The present king is incapable of pronounce one coherent sentence.
The one before he was deposed because he was insane.
Really.
Since I hope to join that monarchy, sire.
I must ask you not to insult it.
I request your decision.
Your majesty, England has been breaking...
our continental blockade through Sweden.
What a joke on the English...
A French Marshal on the Swedish throne.
Very well, Bernadotte, go to Sweden.
But of course I can not allow you to renounce your citizenship.
It would be impossible.
I will call upon you
should the frontiers of France need defending.
That will not become necessary since France no longer have any frontiers.
His majesty's suggesting that with you in Stockholm.
the...shall we say interests...
of France and Sweden would always coincide.
I should, of course, always serve the interest of Sweden.
And the interests of France.
I should serve the interest of my former country
whenever they do not conflict with the interest of Sweden.
Can it possible be that you have forgotten...
what your former country meant to you?
Can it be that you've forgotten the battles which you fought
and the army which you led?
It is possible that you have forgotten the ideals of your youth?
I remember the ideals of my youth, sire.
But at times when I feel that I have been betrayed.
Go on.
I've watch you juggle the thrones of Europe...
I've seen you makes kings and queens...
with your brothers and sisters...
Theirs subjects despise them.
I will not be a puppet to be move for your pleasure...
If I go to Sweden it will be as the swedish crown prince or not at all.
Sweden may not posses the grandeur of Spain...
the climates of Naples,
It possesses something far richer...
a free parliament.
It has chosen me to rule it freely.
I will govern according with my own ideas...
and those of my people.
Will you remind him that hi is a Frenchman
and his emperor has the right to command him!
You were born to command, sire.
I was not born to obey.
You will remain a marshal of France.
and when there's a new war, you will lead one of my armies...
and furthermore you will add your Swedish regiments to ours!
Would you make me a greater man than yourself
by obliging me to refuse a crown?
Madame, is this your wish?
It is my wish, sire.
Very well, I see you have your interest, and I have mine.
Your Royal Highness will love Stockholm.
It's a beautiful city.
They called it the Venice of the North.
I prefer the Venice of the South.
I put on my woollen underdrawers
but I'm still freezing!
Don't worry nobody are going to look under my skirts.
I hate palaces!
Well, literally the royal family request that you stop sliding
across the throne room with Oscar.
Desiree you must learn a little restraint.
That's the most difficult thing of all.
I just can't cope with any of it!
Not any of it!
I walk wrong, I curtsy wrong, I talk wrong.
I can't even manage the names.
Countess Lewenhaupt.
Baron Lewenhelm.
Chancellor Wederstaed.
Dorfningholm, and Durogartem.
Everything is with a umlaut.
The Royal Family has suggested a few tutors.
Tutors, John? I haven't been able to learn anything since I was ten.
Oh, I'll try, I'll try.
Lu-ven-haupt.
Lu-end-Haupt.
Lu- Ven- Haupt.
But when I aught in spring appears...
The flowers will remember...
Oh...
Cold and White in the winter night...
Lies the drifted snow...
Snow...
I wanted to ask you my dear daughter...
whether you feel you are fulfilling your duties.
as crown princess of Sweden.
I don't know your Majesty.
You don't know, my dear daughter?
Well I can't judge, I'd never been a crown princess before.
It's extremely unfortunate that you do not know.
but I'll tell you how a crown princess does not fulfill her duties.
A crown princess does not fall asleep in public.
At court functions, she remains awake and converses graciously.
She does not act as she was deaf and dumb.
I am sorry, your Majesty, but I keep still so as not to embarrass my husband.
I sometimes say things which proof to be embarrassing.
A crown princess does not allow her servants
to call her by her name.
Marie? But she has called me Desiree all my life.
A crown princess does not wander in the streets alone.
Inspecting the silk stores.
And why not? I used to be in the business
I must insist that you forget that you used to be!
I'm sorry your Majesty but I forget nothing or nobody!
You will have to in the future.
Your behavior is already one burden to the Swedes people.
Do not permit your origin to become another.
If I may leave now.
No, you may not.
I am leaving your Majesty.
I am leaving Sweden.
May I announce your Royal Highness?
No, thank you. I'm accustomed to seeing my husband without being announced.
But I'm obliged to announce you.
Who obliges you to?
Tradition, your Royal Highness, for centuries...
Oh, don't threat, I won't upset your tradition much longer.
Your Royal Highness.
Is there something particular, Desiree?
Yes, I wish to speak to you.
I'll wait until you've finished.
It's a question of breaking trade with England.
Or defying Napoleon.
There are no other choices.
We must maintain peace with Napoleon.
Napoleon's idea of peace is no one should mention or oppose him.
I will not allow him to dictate our trade policies.
If your Royal Highness keep to that there will be resistance.
I hope you can considerer your own position.
I fully realize that I am still on probation here in Sweden...
You are...uh...
Gentlemen, I believe we'll consider this another time.
Now if you'll tell me what is so important...
that a council of state must stop for it?
I had a dreadful scene with the Queen.
I was unspeakable, but so was she.
Don't be angry with me Jean Baptiste, please, don't...
How can I not be angry?
Didn't you hear what we were discussing?
Do you do any effort to know what's going on in the world?
Napoleon's set on a new blood bath in Europe...
Someone must stop him somewhere, and you want me to concern myself with
a spat between you and the Queen.?
Well, whatever it's about, perhaps the Queen is right.
I came to tell you that I'm leaving.
I'm going home.
You are home.
I'm sorry Desiree.
I'm tired, I'm upset these days.
Look.
There's Oscar in the front rank.
Why do they always march into battle with music.?
It help them to keep in step.
He'll make a goodn soldier.
Some day he'll make a good prince.
And a good king like his father.
Do you know what they call his mother?
A foreigner.
That is why I must return to France. I only embarrass you here.
I lower your prestige more every day. Say you'll let me go, Jean.
Do not ask me to say it.
When your position here is stronger,
and the people accept you completely, I will come back.
When will that be?
Not until Napoleon is stopped there will be any security for me.
Or peace for anyone.
I cannot let you go.
I cannot do it without you.
Dear, you cannot do with me.
There's too much at stake! You know it.
Why do you look at me like that?
Because you are right.
Because I love you.
Because he will see you again.
When it's spring in Paris, I'll go to our bridge.
Look out at the Seine, and remember.
Let's go back to the table.
I'm so glad I made you come.
After all, it's an occasion.
And you've been here eight months, living like a nun.
Skaal.
Happy new year, Desiree.
The emperor.
I regret that affairs of state kept me from joining you until now.
Now I asked my son to be with us here on this eve, from this great year for France.
To the health of his young majesty.
It's for you.
He's damp.
Precious.
I heard that your royal highness return to France some time ago.
May I ask what caused for you to leave your own country?
The cold, sire.
So, the cold.
Member of visiting royal houses usually request an audience...
when they visit my capital.
Court courtesy.
I did not think your majesty overly concern himself
with matters of courtesy.
You well. Madame, since you're no longer a citizen,
you remain in France because of my courtesy.
1,2,3...1,2,3..
You do well your majesty.
I was taught well your royal highness.
That must be the real reason why she left Sweden.
Yes, she's still in love with him.
He's still in love with her, I'm sure of it.
My brother and his affairs, he's such a fool.
When do you plan to return to Stockholm, Madame?
When it is no longer cold there, sire.
Do you not miss your son?
Only a little less than I miss his father.
In the meantime your husband is playing a dangerous game.
Reports reach me that Sweden is discussing alliance with Russia.
Now, how truth is this?
I only know that Sweden wishes to remain at peace.
Impossible!
Time has come for choosing sides.
Do you realize that in a few days I will send the greatest army of all times...
to Russia and if not Russia to England?
Urge your husband to win our friendship not our enmity for your own safe.
I'm sorry but I Know nothing about politics.
You would do well to take me seriously.
You forget I was the first person who ever took you seriously.
You've developed Desiree.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
answer me, has the nation ever had such a lovely hostage?
You laugh?
Earlier I was working on an order to Marshal Davout...
it instruct him to march across Sweden
to cover the left flank of our approach to Russia.
Technically that puts us at war with Sweden.
and her royal highness is my hostage.
But I offer her my protection.
And for the first act of the new year was
the disregard of the neutrality of another country.
No.
My last act in the old year.
The church-bells will ring with our victories.
Before next new year's eve I will sleep in Moscow.
Desiree! Desiree!
Oh, Marie, thank the lord it was a dream!
It was terrible Marie!
I saw Oscar on the battlefield.
He was all grown-up and wounded and bleeding and blood everywhere.
Bonaparte is here, Desiree.
He's here.
He has return from Moscow, just now.
Allow me, Your Royal Highness.
I am General Coulaincourt, the Emperor's Aide.
No one in Paris knows that we have returned.
We have ridden for many days and nights.
Did you obtain that dressing gown in Sweden?
No, it's from Paris.
Very becoming.
Marie bring some brandy, please.
You seem surprise to see me.
Of course.
And yet we're old friends.
As I remember.
Why should you be surprised at my visit?
The late hour
and the fact that you come unshaven.
Yes, forgive me.
I seen to have forgotten about it
in the last few days.
May I ask why...-
No, no, you may not ask...anything.
Coulaincourt, I should like to be alone with your royal higness
if you don't mind.
Thank you, sire.
Your royal Highness.
I was about to ask why I'm honored with this unexpected call.
This call is no honor.
I'm here on a mission.
I have come from the steppes of Russia.
Where my soldiers lies buried
The ones that still lives are snowblind.
and they whimper and cry like children
who do not understand what has happened to them.
I have come from a land
where men crawl under dead comrades to keep warm.
How can I send a shawl?
I knitted a shawl for my nephew.
Help me to get it to him.
He needs it there.
I have the number of his regiment.
He would be easy to find.
Your majesty has couriers.
He needs his shawl, this warm shawl I'm knitting.
A shawl to Russia for my 100,000 dead,
For my frozen grenadiers.
A gray, warm shawl for my Grand Army.
Go to bed, dearest.
Do you know who met with the Czar before the battle of Moscow?
Do you know who advised him to burn the city
so that my troops could not winter there?
Do you know who suggested that
I be taking prisoner during my retreat?
Yes, I'm sure I know. My husband.
Yes, your husband.
Your husband, I want you to write him a letter.
A personal letter, immediately.
Perhaps if it comes from you...
he might remember that he once was a Frenchman.
I want you to tell him that I have returned to Paris
to prepare the final defeat of my enemies.
Tell him that I offer him an alliance.
And tell him that I would like Marshal Bernadotte to march by my side once again.
And that is why you came to see me.
Yes.
and of course I was...
cold and tired and alone.
"Jean-Baptoiste has answered the letter...
and his answer is he will march against Napoleon...
not with him."
"Napoleon is defeated...
and Jean had led one of the armies which fought him."
"The allied troops are about to enter Paris."
"How I hope Jean is with them."
Oh, Jean.
I read that you might seek a divorce...
In order to marry a Russian Grand Duchess.
To strengthen the alliance between Russia and Sweden.
Don't believe everything you read.
If you think it would be wise...
I would make only one condition.
That I become your mistress.
It's impossible. Too expensive.
You'll simply have to remain my wife.
I killed many Frenchmen on my way back to this bridge.
At Leipzig he sent my old regiments against me.
Men I'd fought with as comrades.
I reviewed them as prisoner of war.
Don't torture yourself, darling.
Now I go to face him.
the last link in the chain.
I pray...
Jean, I want to come back.
I never knew how lonely it could be to be alone, until you left.
Soon?
Very soon.
Now that we're rid of him.
Thank you for choosing the Island of Elba.
It will remind me of my birthplace.
Vegetation in there is not too unlike of that of Corsica.
Well.
Well, gentlemen I'm ready for exile.
Bernadotte.
I have nothing in common with those other friends of yours.
But you, a man who rose from the ranks...
A soldier whose loyalty I've always cherished.
Your deployment at Leipzig against me was brilliant.
The tactics of a genius.
That is true. I learned them from you.
French standard's in the dirt.
Tell me Bernadotte.
Did you enjoy your triumph?
How did you feel?
In despair.
Despair.
Well, that at least, is becoming to the most illustrious traitor France has ever known.
History will determine which of us was the traitor.
But even if it affords you any satisfaction...
know that when I leave your sight, I leave France.
I will never be back.
There is the difference. I will be back.
"He has escape from Elba..."
"It will be more war."
"How will I ever get back to Sweden?"
"There has been a battle at Waterloo."
"And now Napoleaon is barricade at Malmaison."
"And want to fight to the death."
"At the gates of Paris."
"There will be more killings, more blood."
"Napoleon must be stopped."
"Jean said it a long ago, someone must stop him."
"Somewhere."
His own battalions protect him at Malmaison.
Their bayonets are drawn.
If we try to cease him, more men will die.
Unless he is turn over to the Allied Command tonight.
We cannot save Paris from destruction.
He is stubborn and bitter, Madam.
But you, you have known him well.
He's always seemed to...
perhaps a woman...
Desiree.
Her Royal Highnees wishes to see the Emperor.
Oh, no...
Oh, just let me...
Desiree, he won't see you.
Why, Desiree...
I'm sorry if I startled you.
Well. I'm not accustomed to having visitors here recently.
But then, you and I, always met, rather unexpectedly.
Won't you please sit down?
You know, I once asked you to walk in this garden with me, and you refused.
Yes, I was afraid of you.
Well, you had reason to be.
You know Desiree, that hat doesn't suit you at all. Not at all.
May I remove it?
I'm here for a purpose.
I'm sure you are.
Do you remember when we first met?
That was the night you told me you knew your destiny.
That was the first night I kissed you.
You were thinking about my dowry, General.
No, not entirely.
Truly not entirely.
I wonder what my destiny would have been had I married you.
The same, I think.
Perhaps.
But the history of Empires often depends on such trifles.
So does the history of people.
Yes.
Well, you're here on a mission.
I bring you a message from the French Government.
You were sent to me as a courier?
Do they think I'll be swayed by sentiment?
What a shabby device!
I wanted to come.
Yes,indee you always enjoy taking the role of the courageous lady.
I'm not at all courageous, just the opposite.
But when there is a great deal at stake I can make the effort.
I'm to tell you that the allies will not accept the surrender of Paris.
Unless you leave France.
If you do not give yourself up today, the city will be destroyed.
There's nothing you will let that message
to consent before you may take it back with the same answer.
I can still mobilize 100,000...
And how many of them will die?
How many more men would lie in they grave because of you?
How many more French mothers will hate you?
How many more children would grow up cursing your name because they have no fathers?
I've to shed blood but only where it was indicated.
What indicates it to you now?
Your destiny?
I judge my conduct by my conscience.
And my conscience is not troubled.
Day by day, I, too, gave my life for my country.
And yet, my mother did not wish me to become emperor.
She did not even attend my coronation.
I made Caroline's husband a marshall and he joined my enemies.
I made Bernadotte a marshall and he fought me in the fields.
I made war...
in order to secure peace...
nor for a year, but for a dozen centuries...
I dreamed of a United States of Europe.
Frenchmen, Italians, Germans, Poles, Russians,...
And all the others...
One law, one coinage, one people.
Was that so rush a dream?
No.
Only the way you dreamed.
And now,
I'm to let myself be taken to that
godforsaken rock in the ocean- Saint Helena.
I returned from Elba but I will never return from Saint Helena.
Is this what you ask?
It is what France ask.
It is customary to handle one's sword to the officer taken one prisoner.
Bernadotte will explain it to you.
At this moment, I surrender to the allies.
Please don't hold it like un umbrella.
Good-bye Napoleone...
No one has called me that for a very long time.
Tell me Desiree, when did you begin to fall out of love with me?
I don't know.
Somewhere along the way.
Strange our paths, your and mine, and Bernadotte's.
You will go to Sweden and become a Queen.
The two must outstanding men of our time...
have been in love with you.
And you're no real beauty.
But you have a way with you.
Go and tell my brothers to prepare for my departure.
I want to be alone for a while.
Desiree...
Our engagement...
it wasn't only the dowry...
Go along now, before I repent.