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Désirée

Désirée

Drama · Romance · 1954

In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.

Movie details

Désirée

“The life...the women...the conquests of Napoleon!”

1954 Drama · Romance 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.3 / 10

4K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

20 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In Marseilles, France in 1794, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte, but winds up wedding General Jean-Baptiste Berandotte, an aid to Napoleon who later joins the forces that bring about the Emperor's downfall. Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, but is then cast aside by her spouse when she proves unable to produce an heir to the throne.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Désirée?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Henry Koster

Written by

Daniel Taradash

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Napoleon Bonaparte

Jean Simmons

Jean Simmons

Desiree Clary

Merle Oberon

Merle Oberon

Empress Josephine

Michael Rennie

Michael Rennie

Bernadotte

Cameron Mitchell

Cameron Mitchell

Joseph Bonaparte

E

Elizabeth Sellars

Julie

Charlotte Austin

Charlotte Austin

Paulette Bonaparte

Court is in session

Put Désirée on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.