Désirée
“The life...the women...the conquests of Napoleon!”
Synopsis
In 1794 in Marseilles, France, Desiree Clary, a young millinery clerk, becomes infatuated with Napoleon Bonaparte but ultimately marries General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's aides who later aligns with the forces responsible for the Emperor's downfall. Meanwhile, Josephine Beauharnais, a worldly courtesan, marries Napoleon and becomes Empress of France, only to be abandoned by him after she fails to provide an heir to the throne.
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 18
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by William ReynoldsShot by Milton R KrasnerScored by Alex North
Also known as
- Desiréees
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Cast & Crew
18 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Marlon Brando
as Napoleon Bonaparte
Jean Simmons
as Désirée Clary
Merle Oberon
as Empress Josephine
Michael Rennie
as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
Cameron Mitchell
as Joseph Bonaparte
Elizabeth Sellars
as Julie - Désirée's Sister
Charlotte Austin
as Paulette Bonaparte
Cathleen Nesbitt
as Mme. Bonaparte
Evelyn Varden
as Marie
Isobel Elsom
as Mme. Clary - Désirée's Mother
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
4Parents Guide
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