Watch Sanjeev Bhaskar's hilarious rendition of Napoleon Bonaparte's slightly overwrought letters to his wife Joséphine (played by Miriam Margolyes). Originally performed at Freemasons Hall, London in October 2016.
Been to Paris, saw Napoleon's tomb, read the walls about his accomplishments, and read a biography of the great man. Nobody mentioned he was so high maintenance.
If I didn’t know that these were segments from Napoleon Bonaparte himself, I might have mistaken for someone who is one part genius, one part hopeless romantic, and one part six year old with a temper tantrum.
A classic narcissist. 'You are amazing! I love you, WHY haven't you written back? DO you realise how much I love you?! Do you even love me?! Here: take this present because I love you.' All in one minute.
He was great at studies but not very athletic as a soldier. Hopeless romantic but not great w/ ladies. Had a chip on his shoulder as a Corsican & very minor Noble. He was of average height, similar to other men of his place & era, so his complex Didn't come from a lack of physical stature but a lack of Social stature. He had been sent to the fanciest Military Academy of France but his French Aristocratic schoolmates & the French in general viewed Corsicans like Hicks. As a young man, he was kind of Emo & wierd. Again, he adored women but women didn't often adore him. For the first half of his life, he wanted freedom & Nationalism for his native Corsica from the tyranny of French colonial rule. He was a supporter of the French Revolution but later crowned himself Emperor of France & reinforced slavery (which had previously been abolished) in French colonies, amongst many other ironies. Some hint of how megalomaniacal he'd become even when he was a young nobody was that he was a huge fanboy of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, Brutus, etc. Men who conquered, committed acts of genocide in certain regions, dethroned other Kings only to (unofficially) become Kings themselves.
This one is my absolute favorite. Those two are a perfect pair and Miriam’s eyes make all the difference. Sanjeev Bhaskar is a master at underlining the hidden humour in Napoleon’s letters 😂
Miriam is absolutely marvelous. Exceptionally talented and skillful. Someone could spend their whole life studying and practicing how to evoke laughter with mere gestures of the head, changes to the eyes, and perhaps not achieve her natural mastery of it. She is utterly brilliant at it.
@@Camille-accessories lol, Bridgerton really isn't groundbreaking at all. I was sure he *had* been in a historical drama but turns out he hasn't, he's stuck mostly to comedy and children's stuff, but he would be a really good Napoleon. In British productions we always see a basically mute, grumpy little guy, it would be very interesting to have someone give him some personality in an English language production for once.
@@kellydalstok8900 oh I know, and recently got promoted to the star of the show since Nicola Walker left! But despite it being one of my favourite shows it's an outlier to his general career trend and not a period drama so I didn't mention it.
She was incredible. She survived the French revolution, the Terror, the fall of Bonaparte, the new French king, always making friends, never enemies. She also started a brand new fashion and defines the French style!
she wasn't very faithful actually. She had an affair with a man named Hippolyte Charles to whom she was deeply in love with. Napoleon heard of this and asked for a divorce but she managed to dissued him by blackmailing him. Napoleon had no heir and the children of Josephine were like his own children. She was smart and proud of every victory her dear husband brought to France because victory means more money and more money for her. Think about it next time you imagine Josephine as an angel of a woman.
@@myriammachiche1030 nobody says she was an angel but she definitely was a survivor! She lived through extremely hard times, made many friends, kept old lovers, business friends and looked after her first husband's bastard children. All in all a fascinating woman.
@@madelainepetrin1430 yes she was definitly a survivor. And her main concern was also her children. I am not critizsizing Josephine, she was smart, pretty, and managed to create her own style. It would be unfair to judge her knowing how hard was life for a wonen. She did what she had to do ro survive and keep her children safe. I hope you will understand that I didnt mean to take part for Napoléon by saying what everybody knew anyway. I think they had a very passionate relation may be to passionate.... Love can be so cruel but we cant live without it. Have a nice evening.
@@madelainepetrin1430 By the way I have to say that it was hilarious, knowing Napoléon from what I learned at shool and imagining him writing those lettres made me laugh to tears.
It's a shame he didn't add the letter which he wrote to Josephine in 1807, during the negotiations at Tilsit. He wrote that he was so impressed and pleased with the Tsar, that "had he been a woman, I would make her my lover". I wonder how Josephine took that...?
I think Napoleon actually said--he would marry the Tsar. Unless the version or variation I have heard is incorrect or the phrasing makes it difficult to render an exact translation.
I really enjoyed this. Weather is fine. I fought two battalion of horse disguised as grandchildren. Write me 10 pages on the brilliance of Miriam Margoyles and magnanimity of Sanjeet Bhaskar. I’ll wait for a minute then must conquer Europe.
He wasn’t needy, like you (and even Josephine) believe. He was just passionately in love with his wife. Once Josephine broke his trust, he was never as ardent about her as he was at the beginning of their marriage.
This is my absolute favorite Letters Live presentation, absolutely marvelous!! Sanjeev, i love you to bits, and Miriam, I pray to be as marvelous as you when I grow up!! love and hugs to you both. Namaste
Dear Napoleon: After years of therapy, I understand how you wrote this. The crowd laughs because without dealing with grief trauma, it seems pretty erratic and funny. To us who are in it, we thank you for putting words to such deep, terrorizing emotions that words fail to describe….we get it. Your words centuries later give healing and hope to us. Thank you 🙏 Love from Philadelphia, PA USA
(Please remember that at the time there were no cellphones or social networks. Without letters, you were utterly isolated. Imagine one day without knowing anything of your loved one. Also imagine being Napoleon, a guy not known for being patient 🤣)
@@emaarredondo-librarian it's almost like we 'forgot' but it's more that you can't do anything these days without a device Banking, taxes, doctor's appointments, socializing ...it wasn't 'better' back in the day but it sure was a lot simpler. I like the internet for instance but I miss the 'television' days.🤣 I'm an 80's baby. Am I old enough to be considered a boomer or is that specifically for the baby boomers?😄
@@emaarredondo-librarian 🤣🤣🤣 fantastic! So you had longer to see all the changes unfolding! Your era had some the best music. I'm stuck in between the GenXers and the Millenials. My era gave the world tiny Motorola flip phones that you could snap shut with assertiveness. It's impossible to hang up on someone these days. 😅
Brilliant! Miriam didn’t have to speak a word, but her looks spoke volumes as Sanjeev hilariously read Napoleon’s letters. I had no idea that Napoleon was such a petulant baby. That’s something you don’t learn in your world history classes! Perhaps history ought to be taught through the letters of the so called movers and shakers as well as those who had to deal with them so that we could get a truer version of what these people were REALLY like.
I think its best to first make sure the basics are known before delving into the personalities. Imagine being a teacher grading a test and reading answers like: " I don't know where he met his Waterloo(😉) but he was a total baby man. If Josephine was my gurl, I would tell her to ignore his letters and live her best life, periodt"
Being still in love with a French girl, I feel for him and his wrung-out heart. For in all fairness, such pain is still better than the nothing that was before! 🤔🇬🇧
@@MelissaThompson432 Being awarded a medal and receiving an actual title are entirely different things. It's all arbitrary bollocks at the end of the day, however, I stand by the resolve that Miriam Margolyes is fully deserving of any titles they can offer. She's a firework!
Love this. They're both perfect. I am surprised that Miriam didn't catch the pun in the word "dying". I'd have thought she'd play with that one. All in all, great interplay between them, and I love the sarcasm that crops up in Sanjeev's reading. :)
Now I discover that Napoleon was somewhat ruled by something apparently so irrelevant as his heart !( Somewhat unusual coming from someone who was a great Emperor.. military strategist..and very ambitious!!!)
At this point he truly loved Josephine, and actually wanted to be a devoted husband. All the things women say they want in a man. Yet she was out cheating on him and barely responding to his letters. That's why he sounds so frantic. He couldn't understand why her replies were so tardy, lackadaisical, short and dispassionate. At this point he was naïve and blind to see what she was.
Me: Oh cool! A RU-vid channel you can listen to while doing chores and don't really have to watch to enjoy! Miriam Margolyes: *makes a micro expression that I can't even begin to describe but it means "Bollocks"*
I recommend listening to Warhorses Of Letters BBC Radio 4. These are letters between Wellington's horse Copenhagen, and Napoleon's horse Marengo. Very droll.
@@emmamortiboy1520 You have no proof of that. Officially, Henry VIII beheaded two of his six wives (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) for adultery. Josephine was unfaithful to Napoleon yet he did no such thing. Her (Josephine) adultery certainly cooled Napoleon’s ardor towards her, but he didn’t kill her for it. Hell, he even crowned her Empress of the French well after the fact.
I kept thinking of one "cliche" portrait of Napoleon as I waited for Miriam to speak...Pompous, bombastic, he rattles on and her facial expressions change, slowly, from confused to confounded to startled to contrite, annoyed, ALL WITHOUT SPEAKING, GENIUS...( do you think smug Napoleon deserved a "slap" for referring to the not long before, soundingboard, the passion of his egomaniacal life, as "fat"- !?) Ah mon dieu, le cad! Both artists were terrific!
Being as fat as a Normandy cow was a compliment. It was their version of 'guuuurl, I heard your curves are still SLAYING. Live your best life, boo; imma send you a lil' sumthing. Treat yo'self.