13 thoughts on “SNARK WEEK RECAP: Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987) – Part 3

  1. The only time I really notice a character vs an actor’s age (with the exception of the requisite late 20something playing a 15 year old) is when the script includes something to specifically call out how old/young a character is supposed to be, which drags into contrast how old/young the actor is in comparison. That being said, Armand Assante was much closer to meeting that ‘no dudes under 40’ rule than Napoleon was historically at the time of filming the miniseries.

  2. Maybe Napoleon, selfish egocentric twit that he is, should have given his wife a puppy as well. A poodle comes to mind. After all in Egypt he began taking lovers. But the clothes are really showing they’re from the Age of Dallas/Dynasty, but without SueEllen and Crystal.

  3. oh my, who didn’t want to be a Breck Girl?!?! you could even send away for a series of portraits of the Breck girls. sigh.

  4. When I saw the image for the post.. my goodness. I don’t much care for cold shoulder dresses today when they are a thing. Who would think they were a thing then?? Also this plot just seems bizarre. The last image/meme kills me. :-)

  5. That patterned-sheer-over-solid-silver number is a weird mash-up. The front-opening skirt with big embroidery all the way down each edge looks like the train of a First Empire full-dress court ensemble (or rather it would if it were made in velvet, separate from the gown, with narrow shoulder straps to hold it up*); it doesn’t relate to anything anybody would have been wearing in the Directoire, which we are still in at this point.

    Nice example here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/5918606895

  6. Bloody raving hell. There is so very much wrong here that it’s quite enjoyable. Plus a puppy and a Breck Girl! At least Assante looks vaguely Napoleonic. I’m reading a new book about Garbo (by Robert Gottlieb); she would have made a soulful Josephine–N. liked soulful women who would read him poetry–but played Marie Walewska instead.

    1. Nothing to do with Napoleon, but I offer for your consideration this 1847 portrait of Tsar Nicholas I in the British Royal Collection.
      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Franz_Kr%C3%BCger_%281797-1857%29_-_Nicholas_I%2C_Emperor_of_Russia_%281796-1855%29_-_RCIN_406814_-_Royal_Collection.jpg
      The Tsar gave it to Queen Victoria as a present after his visit to England. Victoria rhapsodised about his good looks: “he is still very handsome; very tall with a very fine figure […] & beautiful Grecian profile.’ You don’t fool us, Vicky: we know what you liked about him!

    2. Not to spoil anyone’s fun, but almost certainly a hoax. Initially Antommarchi never actually claimed it was a John Thomas. Then many decades later, someone just… decided it was. And at that: if there’s one thing everyone agreed about Antommarchi is that he is a known liar. He actually shouldn’t have been allowed to be a doctor.

      In any event, everyone from Napoléon to the British absolutely despised him. When Antommarchi asked if he could remove Napoléon’s ribs as souvenirs, the British physicians responded with an unequivocal, “No.” The would not allow a quack like Antommarchi near Napoléon’s body unsupervised. (Although Sir Hudson Lowe held no esteem for Napoléon, British physicians took their charge very seriously and with reverence.) In all likelihood Napoléon’s best leg of three remains with the Emperor.

      1. At least there’s a physical object involved here, as opposed to the often-repeated urban legend that John Dillinger’s penis is in a jar somewhere in the Smithsonian, if you just know where to look.

        Of course, this dried-up thing actually being Napoleon’s Bonerpart is just about as likely as that bloated thing floating in a jar in a museum in St. Petersburg actually being the severed schwanzstucker of Grigori Rasputin.

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