And he was desperate for her to get pregnant because he didn't want a divorce, he loved her. She was desperate to be pregnant because she knew herself that's what her position depended on. What was Napoleon’s relationship with Josephine really like? She knew what was coming, but that's a different thing. I can never have a child.” She never did anything like that. What are the parts that are not quite how it happened in history?Īnother thing that was inaccurate is when Ridley has Josephine saying to Napoleon, “You're going to have to divorce me. TIME: You say there wasn't much in the film that was made up.

Michael Broers, an author of several books on Napoleon who attended script meetings for the film, spoke to TIME about what the movie gets right and wrong about the legendary leader and debunks some of the most common misconceptions about him.īelow, Broers gives the inside scoop on the conversations with Scott about the scene in which Napoleon shoots down the Pyramids, opens up about the one part of the movie he most objects to, and breaks down the accuracy of the “Napoleon complex.” The movie is a work of historical fiction, but Scott’s team worked to ensure that at least some details are historically accurate. The film tracks Napoleon’s rise to fame during the French Revolution, delves deep into his lifelong love for his wife Josephine, and depicts his most famous military battles, culminating in his epic defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Ridley Scott’s biopic Napoleon, in which Joaquin Phoenix plays the French emperor, hits theaters on Nov.

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