Désirée (1954)

Michael Rennie: Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte

Photos 

Quotes 

• Desiree Clary : I can't bear generals. None of you.

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : Well, there are generals and generals.

• Desiree Clary : I'm nothing but a memory to him.

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : Yes. A memory he'd undoubtedly like to refresh.

• Napoleon Bonaparte : I will call upon you, should the frontiers of France need defending.

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : That will not become necessary, since France no longer has any frontiers.

• Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : Napoleon's idea of peace is that no one should venture to oppose him.

• Napoleon Bonaparte : Tell me, Bernadotte. Did you enjoy your triumph? How did you feel?

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : In despair.

  Napoleon Bonaparte : In despair. Well, that at least is becoming to the most illustrious traitor France has ever known.

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : History will determine which of us was the traitor. But if it affords you any satisfaction, you may know that when I leave your sight, I leave France. I will never be back.

  Napoleon Bonaparte : There is the difference. I will be back.

• Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : You were born to command, sire. I was not born to obey.

• Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : Would you make me a greater man than yourself, by obliging me to refuse a crown?

• Desiree Clary : I came to tell you that I'm leaving. I'm going home.

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : You are home.

• Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : I should of course always serve the interests of Sweden.

  Napoleon Bonaparte : And the interests of France?

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : I should serve the interests of my former country, whenever they do not conflict with the interests of Sweden.

  Napoleon Bonaparte : Can it possibly be that you have forgotten what your former country meant to you? Can it be that you have forgotten the battlefields on which you fought, and the armies which you led? Is it possible that you have forgotten the ideals of your youth?

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : I remember the ideals of my youth, sire. There are times when I feel they have been betrayed.

• Napoleon Bonaparte : Your deployment against me at Leipzig was brilliant. The tactics were genius.

  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : That is true. I learned them from you.

• Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte : The royal family has suggested a few tutors.

  Desiree Clary : Tutors, Jean? I haven't been able to learn anything since I was 10.