Having been reluctant to join her husband in Italy in 1796, she took to accompanying him everywhere. She relished the pre-eminence that the role of helping create a new France gave her.

He needed her soft diplomacy and her aristocratic lineage to help smooth over the factionalism that had characterised the Revolutionary decade. Josephine's letters to her lover Hippolyte Charles give an idea of how precarious the situation was for her. These letters are practical, with formulaic sign offs such as 'a thousand tender things'.Īs the wife of a feted war hero, Josephine exploited her political connections for her own gain, perhaps as a way of resisting the control Napoleon was exerting over the rest of her life.Īware of how effective they could be as a team, detractors including Napoleon's own family took delight in spreading rumours to tarnish Josephine's reputation. His earlier novelistic outpourings were replaced by a very different tone as early as 1797, and by 1800 he turns rather cold. Napoleon recognised the usefulness of his wife's connections and seemed to accept a mismatch in their feelings. By the time they were reunited, however, he was less infatuated – although still controlling. When Josephine joined him in Italy, she had to put up with him tracking her every move and opening her letters. Speaking to The New Yorker, Scott told historians who had been correcting inaccuracies in the film to 'get a life', but the age difference between Napoleon and Josephine was a significant factor in the way in which their lives – and their love – played out.

Kirby is considerably younger than the actor in the title role, Joaquin Phoenix (14 years her senior), but in fact, Josephine was six years older than Napoleon. The news that Vanessa Kirby would play Josephine in the film generated a ripple of surprise among historians. Was Kubrick's Napoleon the greatest film never made? Napoleon review: 'An awe-inspiring achievement' It portrays Napoleon as someone who, according to Scott: 'conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldn't, conquered it to destroy her, and destroyed himself in the process'. The relationship between Napoleon and the woman he called 'Josephine' is central to the plot of Ridley Scott's new film about the French Emperor, which is released this week.

Where did napoleon die