Quotes
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : I think in another life he must have been a cat
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Napoléon : Why don't you come with me?
Joséphine de Beauharnais : To Italy?
Napoléon : Yes.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : Do you see me following an army? Ruining my shoes in the mud, wearing wrinkled dresses, sleeping on straw...
Napoléon : Sleeping? Sleeping? There are other things to do besides sleeping.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : I don't know how to caress with words. I need to touch. Flesh to flesh.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : General, I've shocked you. A soldier shocked by a lady's words.
Napoléon : It was not the words, madame. It was the image they evoked.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : The image of a little girl frolicking in the sun?
Napoléon : Of a woman, naked. A beautiful image of you.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : Now I'm the one who's shocked.
Napoléon : You shouldn't have taken the risk.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : The risk?
Napoléon : Of being alone with me and the feelings you have aroused.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : You wouldn't dare.
Napoléon : Oh, no. Not here, not now, but tomorrow, when I see you again.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : Because you presume you'll see me again.
Napoléon : Yes, I will. Won't I?
Joséphine de Beauharnais : What time tomorrow?
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Barras : You don't love him.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : I... I love his love for me. No one, not even you, has ever loved me like this. Do you know what passion is?
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Napoléon : I made inquiries.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : About my daughter?
Napoléon : About the world around you. I know nearly everything about you, Josephine.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : But my name, apparently, is Rose.
Napoléon : Your lovers call you Rose. Your husband has decided to call you Josephine.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : But my husband, General, is dead.
Napoléon : Is dead, yes. The prior one. I'm talking about your new husband.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : My new husband?
Napoléon : Yes. Come now. There is nothing so extraordinary about a widow remarrying.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : No, not at all. Only that I don't have any prospect in sight.
Napoléon : You're looking at him, madame.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : What a splendid uniform, General. Can I touch it? It's pure wool. Excellent quality. Are you turning into a fashion peacock?
Napoléon : The new general of the army of Italy can't command in rags.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : Do you know that when I was a child, a fortune teller predicted that one day I was going to be greater than a queen. Today I have the feeling she saw right. This is my palace. And you will be the king.
Napoléon : Husband is good enough. I don't like kings.
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Roederer : And here are Queen Marie Antoinette's apartments. Not very cheerful, I'm afraid.
Napoléon : The price of power.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : I hope they've changed the sheets.
Napoléon : Don't be silly.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : It's morbid. If you must live in the Tuileries, can't we take a different apartment? This one feels haunted.
Napoléon : Superstitious nonsense. Once it's refurnished to your taste, you'll be happy. And whenever you need a change, we can go to Malmaison.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : I need a change right now. Let's go.
Napoléon : No, don't be childish. Maybe tomorrow.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : When we got married, I could ask you anything. And you always said yes right away. Now it's always maybe tomorrow. You love me less, Bonaparte.
Roederer : I am sorry. Maybe we should have thought of redecorating the rooms before...
Napoléon : She'll get used to it. It would be a sorry set of affairs if my wife were the one person in France to contest my authority.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : It's better to cut your wig than lose your head.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : The general must have been far too busy during the revolution to take an interest in poetry. I know what it is, a soldier's life. I was married to an officer.
Napoléon : Yes. General de Beauharnais. Charged with the surrender of the city of Mayence, and guillotined.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : Yes, that was my husband.
Madame Coigny : Who was nearly followed to the scaffold by his wife, but for the grace of God.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : I would say more the caprice of politics.
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Madame de Staël : Is it true, dear Rose, that you cut off your lovely curls, rather than let the executioner mangle them?
Joséphine de Beauharnais : You make me appear vain and absurd to the general.
Napoléon : On the contrary. To face death with pride takes courage, madame.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : It takes courage to face life alone, with two children.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : Do you want a cup of chocolate, General? It's hot. It's delicious. We drank lots of it in the West Indies.
Napoléon : In the West Indies?
Joséphine de Beauharnais : I was born there. My father owned a plantation with more than 200 slaves. It was a paradise of sunshine and sugar. Imagine. When I was a little girl, I used to bathe in a river among irises and orchids. I loved to swim in it naked.
Napoléon : I come from an island too, madame. But the women there rarely bathe. And when they do, it's fully dressed, all in black.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : Good morning, General. I see you've been taken captive by my children.
Napoléon : Captivated, madame, not captive.
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Napoléon : What's so funny?
Joséphine de Beauharnais : You're funny.
Napoléon : Because I'm mad about you.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : No, because you're just mad. And I love that.
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Joseph Bonaparte : Where did you learn to run a house? In the West Indies, when you were a little savage?
Joséphine de Beauharnais : A little savage who always appreciated beauty.
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Joseph Bonaparte : I'll wait for you outside. Probably smells musty in there. I'll wait for you out front.
Napoléon : It does smell a bit musty.
Joséphine de Beauharnais : Soon it will smell of joy, of life, of love.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : You say that as if you already have a glimmer of an idea.
Napoléon : Oh, not a glimmer. A revolution, Josephine.
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Joséphine de Beauharnais : That's how you'll make history. General Bonaparte, first who fought a war so that he could buy his wife a house.