Napoleon bonaparte

Reimagining Napoleon and Josephine

Then there is the fiction, like Joaquin Phoenix, fixed in the amber of his late-40s, playing Napoleon from the ages of 24 to 51. Or Vanessa Kirby, 35, who is charismatic enough as Josephine to make you turn a blind eye to facts. Never mind that the real Josephine was six years older than Bonaparte and didn’t have the equivalent of Kirby’s cutglass, posh accent. The historical Josephine spoke French in a Creole twang — she was born to a family of white settlers in the French colony of Martinique. Her accent didn’t endear her to the Parisian elite. She survived an uprising in the colonised island, made her way to mainland France, navigated elite French society and emerged from the French Revolution and Reign of Terror as a widow with a prison record and two children. From here, Josephine became the Empress of France. At age 46, after almost 15-odd years of marriage, Josephine was forced to consent to a divorce from Bonaparte, who wanted heirs. (Ironically, while there are no legitimate direct descendants of Bonaparte’s line, Josepine is counted

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