Désirée

Désirée is a 1954 American historical-biographical romance film directed by Henry Koster, based on the best-selling novel Désirée by Annemarie Selinko, first published in 1952. It stars Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) and Jean Simmons as Désirée Clary (1777–1860). The film depicts Désirée, a young French millinery clerk living in Marseilles in 1794, who becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte. She winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later changes sides and joins the Allied forces in 1810 to lead the Swedish forces. Instead of Désirée, Josephine Beauharnais (1763–1814), a worldly courtesan, marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne. Désirée stays in contact with Napoleon until his exile on St. Helena, still loving him.