Eliza, ou Le voyage aux Glaciers
Soundtrack: Alfredo Catalani, La Wally: Ebben? Ne Andro Lontano [1]
*exterior shot of the Alps* *majestic* *snow covered* *we see a carriage rattling along the edge of Lake Constance as it climbs the hill to Schloss Arenenberg*
*shot of the carriage stopping in front of the main entrance* *zoom in on the door shows the two-right facing lions of the coat-of-arms* *door opens and next thing Therese practically tumbles out* *like she was leaning on the door and it opened unexpectedly* *she falls flat on her face* *dirtying the front of her coat and her face* *her hat also falls off*
Therese: *starts crying*
Karoline: *jumps down from the carriage* *looks at her sister* *then starts laughing*
Therese: *cries harder*
Frankie: *climbs out of coach with Poldchen in his arms* *he looks fed-up as any dad who's been cooped up in a car with his kids for a roadtrip* *he hands Poldchen to the nurse once she gets down* Karoline, stop laughing at your sister. I told you she'd fall out if you pushed the button [i.e. handle[1]]. *he helps a crying Therese up* *gently dusts off the front of her coat* *realizes its a bad job so takes his coat off and puts it around her* *then drapes her coat over his shoulder* *then practically grabs Karoline by the hand* *like to make sure she doesn't get up to any more mischief* *we also see Therese smirking behind her dad's head* *like to say "see, I get carried, you've gotta walk*
*Front door opens* *the little girls walk in* *in contrast to their palace in Venice or in Vienna that's mostly baroque interiors* *here it looks like Malmaison's holiday spot*
Frankie: *to Karoline* clean your shoes.
Karoline: *she stamps her feet like he does* *but its probably more for the sound than anything else if one judges by the big smile on her face*
Chamberlain: *to Frankie* she's been expecting you sir.
Frankie: anyone else here?
Chamberlain: no doubt they'll be back for lunch sir...but Abbé Bertrand is with her Majesty at the moment. But she asked for your Majesty.
Frankie: *motions like "lead the way"*
Chamberlain: *does* *finally stops at he door of Hortense's bedroom*
Frankie: *to Therese & Karoline* you wait here with Madame Rivelli *sternly* and no funny business.
Karoline&Therese: *both look at him as if to ask "what are you talking about?"
Chamberlain: His Majesty, the Emperor of the French
*Hortense's bedroom* *first we see "mementos" of the Empire* *several pots of violets* *Abbé Bertrand [3] is seated in the chair opposite to Hortense* *talking to her* *he is an old man* *wizened as a walnut* *Hortense is dressed and rouged* *sitting upright in her chair* *when she sees her stepbrother enter* *she rises to curtsey* *but you can see its difficult for her*
Frankie: don't get up Madame.
Hortense: *smiles in relief* *waves for the Abbé to leave*
*once alone*
Frankie: you look well, Madame
Hortense: *hoarsely* God bless you for a liar *clutches throat*[4]
Frankie: I can ring for some water-
Hortense: it won't help, your Majesty. I am very glad *swallows* that you did not die of measles
Frankie: I think you are possibly the only member of the family who would be so kind, Madame. Certainly Louis Philippe and Prince Metternich do not share the opinion
Hortense: I read *takes breath* about christening. *shakes head* ridiculous. Like yours crossed with *coughs* some pre-Revolutionary fare.
Frankie: I hear it was rather barbaric.
Hortense: I wanted to talk to you about my grandchildren. And Charles.
Frankie: of course.
Hortense: Charles is...a good boy...a kind boy...a bit of a dreamer.
Frankie: aren't we all, Madame?
Hortense: *smiles* *for a moment she looks like a young girl again* he needs someone to...watch over him. He needs to have something to do. Otherwise he...just...thinks-
Frankie: *thinking of Albert of Coburg* I know the type
Hortense: Louis Napoléon is well...he's due this evening from America. But I wanted to talk to you before he gets here.
Frankie: naturellement
Hortense: when I die-
Frankie: perish the thought. Your Majesty is still the picture of health-
Hortense: when I die, I want your Majesty to take them in.
Frankie: they go back to their father, Madame. That was what we agreed.
Hortense: *excitably* damn what we agreed.
Frankie: *stays silent*
Hortense: if they go back to him...they will be raised with all that...Bonaparte poison filling their ears. Their hearts. They will be raised on fever dreams and live in the past. Like Bonnie Prince Charlie. Of how things should've been instead of how they are.
Frankie: *nods*
Hortense: Louis Napoléon, for all his faults...he is his father's son. I've seen the war inside him between Bonaparte and Beauharnais. The new and the old. But now there is another war looming: between your Majesty, as his emperor, and his father, father-in-law and uncles.
Frankie: except none of us are generals, Madame. Not like my father-
Hortense: I watched your father ruin *coughs* himself through his love of family. Charles saw it. To them...they cannot accept that you have decided to throw your lot with all your father stood against. To them, you should be conquering those kingdoms and setting them back on the thrones they rightfully belong on. Even Jérôme has taken to referring to presenting his children now as the "Crown Prince, Prince and Princess of Westphalia, Princess Imperial of France". They will ruin you. They will ruin my sons. And they will use my grandchildren to do it. The Bonaparte and Beauharnais War will carry forward another generation. They already resent you for having arranged dear Théodelinde's match to the duke of Modena. They feel that that should've gone to Mathilde.
Frankie: Mathilde has no money, no dowry, no family background except Protestant...the d'Estes would never have agreed.
Hortense: they see it as you favouring us over them. And then they will force you into a position you do not wish to go.
Frankie: *about to respond* *noise of a squabble from the hallway* excuse me *walks to the door* *opens it* *finds Karoline and Therese are arguing* is this what no funny business looks like?
*lots of finger pointing between the two*
Frankie: *to his daughters* hands, now.
Therese & Karoline: *both look at one another* *then glumly extend their hands as though to be kissed*
Frankie: *strikes them both on the back of their hands* *like a schoolmaster or tutor would* now...what did I threaten in the coach about misbehaving here?
Therese: *obediently* that you'll tie us to the roof of the coach with the luggage.
Hortense: your Majesty can bring them in, I don't mind.
Frankie: *over shoulder* I'd rather not, Madame. They're not fit to be seen.
Karoline: *clutching his leg* I pwomise I'll bewave
Hortense: your pappa sounds like his pappa.
Frankie: *with a why do I do this? sigh* *takes his daughters by the hand and leads them into the room to Hortense* Majesty, may I present Mademoiselle Thérèse and Mademoiselle Caroline
*both girls make an awkward curtsey*
Hortense: *looks at Caroline* were you causing trouble?
Therese: yes, Majesty
Karoline: no *shakes head emphatically* neva make twouble
Hortense: *to Frankie* I'm sure your aunt and her namesake said the same thing when she was that age.
Frankie: having spoken to the duchesse de Berri, I could quite believe that. *i.e. implying that she's not named for Caroline Murat*
Hortense: *lifts Therese onto her lap* then this one is no doubt for Madame Royal?
Frankie: for my grandmother, the Empress
Therese: *points at Gerard's portrait of Josephine* who's that, Majesty?
Hortense: that's my mother.
Karoline: *walks over to portrait for closer look* she pwetty.
Hortense; *quietly* yes...she was. She was even more beautiful if you knew her.
Frankie: a better woman than one my father got. She would've joined him on Elba...on Saint Helena. Not...left him to rot.
Hortense: I see your views towards your mother haven't softened.
Frankie: when I called in Parma with these two on my way back from Madame Louise's wedding in Naples, I was told that her Majesty would receive me but not my daughters. So I climbed back in my coach and headed for Venice. But she will expect me to call that son of hers, my brother.
Hortense: family is a wonderful comfort and a terrible curse, your Majesty. Which is why I ask what I do. That school idea of yours is good. I heard that the Queen of Sicily has persuaded her mother-in-law to send Enrico [5] there as well. Josephine and her brothers will likely be better served there than Louis giving them private tutors in Florence.
Frankie: it was never supposed to be a school. It just...*pulls face* happened.
Hortense: your father wanted to do it.
Frankie: pardon?
Hortense: in Paris. Just before he went to Russia, he spoke of building an imperial academie on the Left Bank, opposite your palais. The princes of the empire would send their sons to be educated in Paris-[6]
Frankie: to make them all subservient bootlickers
Hortense: *smiles faintly like she agrees* of course then he went to Russia and everything went down from there. So I think he would approve of what you're doing.
Frankie: except-
Hortense: your Majesty attempts to go in the opposite direction to him in so many ways, yet the difference is only one of degree. What has started out of loyalty to your cousins [Paulina, Francisca, Theodelinde] - a notion I am sure he was very familiar with - has grown - organically - by accident into something that he wished to accomplish by design. I think he would be very proud of you, your Majesty, for accomplishing what he could not.
Frankie: *scoffs* he'd have called me a damned cowardly fool is what he'd have thought. He would order me shot as the duc d'Enghien.
Hortense: perhaps. But perhaps that is why you have succeeded better in eighteen months than he did in eighteen years. You have governments friendly to you in Portugal, Spain, England, Naples, Modena, Tuscany, without even unsheathing your sword. Perhaps because you haven't.
Frankie: you left out Greece. Cousin Othon's coming to Venice in the New Year.
Hortense: I rest my case.
Chamberlain: your Majesty, the children have returned
Hortense: *puts Therese off her lap* *stands up achily* *offers her arm to Frankie* *cheerfully* shall we go greet them your Majesty?
Frankie: of course, Madame
*cut to the rest of the afternoon* *in various rooms of the house we see Frankie showing off his daughters/son[7] to the other guests* *the Beauharnais have turned out in full force* *the Crown Princess of Sweden* *the Crown Prince and pregnant Princess of Modena* *the Empress Brasil and her daughter* *Prince Vasa, his wife and their daughter, Carola* *Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Princess of Baden* *the Prince of Sigmaringen, his wife and their children, Leopold and Stephanie* *Monsieur Charles arriving with his brother and sister-in-law* *their children excitedly running to greet them* *Hortense talking to her elder son, gesturing at Frankie. Louis Napoléon first shaking his head. Then his wife puts her hand on his arm and nods. He agrees* *Frankie sharing a cigarette in the courtyard with his nephew, Maximilien de Beauharnais* *the children running around together happily* *Hortense sitting at the head of the dining table as the family enjoys swapping stories* *in short, by comparison to the squabbling we've seen from the Bonapartes, the Beauharnais give the impression of a typical bourgeoisie family reunion*
*cut to morning* *the house is quiet*
Hortense: *lying in bed when the door to her bedroom opens*
Abbé Bertrand: you sent for me Madame?
Hortense: *smiles sweetly* oui Monsieur l'Abbé. But only for a moment...then we shall take our departure together.
Abbé Bertrand: *confused by her words* Madame? *walks over to bed when she doesn't respond* *he checks her pulse* *then kneels at the bed whispering* Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis...
*fade to black*
[1] Well, then? I'll go far away
[2] Karoline's a bit of a scamp, bit like her dad. She's also four, so she's going through that "wonderful" phase where they do the opposite of everything you tell them to do.
[3] I have no idea whether Abbé Bertrand was still alive or not, but I couldn't find the name of any other priest associated intimately with Hortense. He was tutor to her sons until roughly 1820 IIRC
[4] Hortense apparently died of cancer, but its not said "what" cancer. Some sources speculate it was uterine cancer while another calls it cancer of the throat, another speculates breast/lung cancer
[5] this would be the illegitimate son of Queen Maria Isabel by Count von Schmucker, born in 1833.
[6] this isn't Hortense flattering him, according to a book on Percier and Fontaine this was a genuine plan in the spring of 1812
[7] I know Frankie dragging his kids behind him like a frigging pull-toy sounds a bit extreme, but as a kid who was abandoned by his mother, he's going to want to make very certain that his kids a) don't feel like that and b) he probably doesn't trust anyone not to slip them something. They may be bastards, but according to the Napoleonic Constitution he has the right to adopt them and name them his successor if he so wishes
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Tarabas @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @Fehérvári @kaiidth @Curtain Jerker @LordKalvan @Taloc13 @Beacon @TimTurner @John Farson @Old1812 @TheBeanieBaron @Electric Monk @Francesco.russo @EMT @euromellows @TeePee @SavoyTruffle @raharris1973 @Xenophonte @colleoni @Kurt_Steiner @Wendell @KingSweden24 @Basileus_Komnenos
*exterior shot of the Alps* *majestic* *snow covered* *we see a carriage rattling along the edge of Lake Constance as it climbs the hill to Schloss Arenenberg*
*shot of the carriage stopping in front of the main entrance* *zoom in on the door shows the two-right facing lions of the coat-of-arms* *door opens and next thing Therese practically tumbles out* *like she was leaning on the door and it opened unexpectedly* *she falls flat on her face* *dirtying the front of her coat and her face* *her hat also falls off*
Therese: *starts crying*
Karoline: *jumps down from the carriage* *looks at her sister* *then starts laughing*
Therese: *cries harder*
Frankie: *climbs out of coach with Poldchen in his arms* *he looks fed-up as any dad who's been cooped up in a car with his kids for a roadtrip* *he hands Poldchen to the nurse once she gets down* Karoline, stop laughing at your sister. I told you she'd fall out if you pushed the button [i.e. handle[1]]. *he helps a crying Therese up* *gently dusts off the front of her coat* *realizes its a bad job so takes his coat off and puts it around her* *then drapes her coat over his shoulder* *then practically grabs Karoline by the hand* *like to make sure she doesn't get up to any more mischief* *we also see Therese smirking behind her dad's head* *like to say "see, I get carried, you've gotta walk*
*Front door opens* *the little girls walk in* *in contrast to their palace in Venice or in Vienna that's mostly baroque interiors* *here it looks like Malmaison's holiday spot*
Frankie: *to Karoline* clean your shoes.
Karoline: *she stamps her feet like he does* *but its probably more for the sound than anything else if one judges by the big smile on her face*
Chamberlain: *to Frankie* she's been expecting you sir.
Frankie: anyone else here?
Chamberlain: no doubt they'll be back for lunch sir...but Abbé Bertrand is with her Majesty at the moment. But she asked for your Majesty.
Frankie: *motions like "lead the way"*
Chamberlain: *does* *finally stops at he door of Hortense's bedroom*
Frankie: *to Therese & Karoline* you wait here with Madame Rivelli *sternly* and no funny business.
Karoline&Therese: *both look at him as if to ask "what are you talking about?"
Chamberlain: His Majesty, the Emperor of the French
*Hortense's bedroom* *first we see "mementos" of the Empire* *several pots of violets* *Abbé Bertrand [3] is seated in the chair opposite to Hortense* *talking to her* *he is an old man* *wizened as a walnut* *Hortense is dressed and rouged* *sitting upright in her chair* *when she sees her stepbrother enter* *she rises to curtsey* *but you can see its difficult for her*
Frankie: don't get up Madame.
Hortense: *smiles in relief* *waves for the Abbé to leave*
*once alone*
Frankie: you look well, Madame
Hortense: *hoarsely* God bless you for a liar *clutches throat*[4]
Frankie: I can ring for some water-
Hortense: it won't help, your Majesty. I am very glad *swallows* that you did not die of measles
Frankie: I think you are possibly the only member of the family who would be so kind, Madame. Certainly Louis Philippe and Prince Metternich do not share the opinion
Hortense: I read *takes breath* about christening. *shakes head* ridiculous. Like yours crossed with *coughs* some pre-Revolutionary fare.
Frankie: I hear it was rather barbaric.
Hortense: I wanted to talk to you about my grandchildren. And Charles.
Frankie: of course.
Hortense: Charles is...a good boy...a kind boy...a bit of a dreamer.
Frankie: aren't we all, Madame?
Hortense: *smiles* *for a moment she looks like a young girl again* he needs someone to...watch over him. He needs to have something to do. Otherwise he...just...thinks-
Frankie: *thinking of Albert of Coburg* I know the type
Hortense: Louis Napoléon is well...he's due this evening from America. But I wanted to talk to you before he gets here.
Frankie: naturellement
Hortense: when I die-
Frankie: perish the thought. Your Majesty is still the picture of health-
Hortense: when I die, I want your Majesty to take them in.
Frankie: they go back to their father, Madame. That was what we agreed.
Hortense: *excitably* damn what we agreed.
Frankie: *stays silent*
Hortense: if they go back to him...they will be raised with all that...Bonaparte poison filling their ears. Their hearts. They will be raised on fever dreams and live in the past. Like Bonnie Prince Charlie. Of how things should've been instead of how they are.
Frankie: *nods*
Hortense: Louis Napoléon, for all his faults...he is his father's son. I've seen the war inside him between Bonaparte and Beauharnais. The new and the old. But now there is another war looming: between your Majesty, as his emperor, and his father, father-in-law and uncles.
Frankie: except none of us are generals, Madame. Not like my father-
Hortense: I watched your father ruin *coughs* himself through his love of family. Charles saw it. To them...they cannot accept that you have decided to throw your lot with all your father stood against. To them, you should be conquering those kingdoms and setting them back on the thrones they rightfully belong on. Even Jérôme has taken to referring to presenting his children now as the "Crown Prince, Prince and Princess of Westphalia, Princess Imperial of France". They will ruin you. They will ruin my sons. And they will use my grandchildren to do it. The Bonaparte and Beauharnais War will carry forward another generation. They already resent you for having arranged dear Théodelinde's match to the duke of Modena. They feel that that should've gone to Mathilde.
Frankie: Mathilde has no money, no dowry, no family background except Protestant...the d'Estes would never have agreed.
Hortense: they see it as you favouring us over them. And then they will force you into a position you do not wish to go.
Frankie: *about to respond* *noise of a squabble from the hallway* excuse me *walks to the door* *opens it* *finds Karoline and Therese are arguing* is this what no funny business looks like?
*lots of finger pointing between the two*
Frankie: *to his daughters* hands, now.
Therese & Karoline: *both look at one another* *then glumly extend their hands as though to be kissed*
Frankie: *strikes them both on the back of their hands* *like a schoolmaster or tutor would* now...what did I threaten in the coach about misbehaving here?
Therese: *obediently* that you'll tie us to the roof of the coach with the luggage.
Hortense: your Majesty can bring them in, I don't mind.
Frankie: *over shoulder* I'd rather not, Madame. They're not fit to be seen.
Karoline: *clutching his leg* I pwomise I'll bewave
Hortense: your pappa sounds like his pappa.
Frankie: *with a why do I do this? sigh* *takes his daughters by the hand and leads them into the room to Hortense* Majesty, may I present Mademoiselle Thérèse and Mademoiselle Caroline
*both girls make an awkward curtsey*
Hortense: *looks at Caroline* were you causing trouble?
Therese: yes, Majesty
Karoline: no *shakes head emphatically* neva make twouble
Hortense: *to Frankie* I'm sure your aunt and her namesake said the same thing when she was that age.
Frankie: having spoken to the duchesse de Berri, I could quite believe that. *i.e. implying that she's not named for Caroline Murat*
Hortense: *lifts Therese onto her lap* then this one is no doubt for Madame Royal?
Frankie: for my grandmother, the Empress
Therese: *points at Gerard's portrait of Josephine* who's that, Majesty?
Hortense: that's my mother.
Karoline: *walks over to portrait for closer look* she pwetty.
Hortense; *quietly* yes...she was. She was even more beautiful if you knew her.
Frankie: a better woman than one my father got. She would've joined him on Elba...on Saint Helena. Not...left him to rot.
Hortense: I see your views towards your mother haven't softened.
Frankie: when I called in Parma with these two on my way back from Madame Louise's wedding in Naples, I was told that her Majesty would receive me but not my daughters. So I climbed back in my coach and headed for Venice. But she will expect me to call that son of hers, my brother.
Hortense: family is a wonderful comfort and a terrible curse, your Majesty. Which is why I ask what I do. That school idea of yours is good. I heard that the Queen of Sicily has persuaded her mother-in-law to send Enrico [5] there as well. Josephine and her brothers will likely be better served there than Louis giving them private tutors in Florence.
Frankie: it was never supposed to be a school. It just...*pulls face* happened.
Hortense: your father wanted to do it.
Frankie: pardon?
Hortense: in Paris. Just before he went to Russia, he spoke of building an imperial academie on the Left Bank, opposite your palais. The princes of the empire would send their sons to be educated in Paris-[6]
Frankie: to make them all subservient bootlickers
Hortense: *smiles faintly like she agrees* of course then he went to Russia and everything went down from there. So I think he would approve of what you're doing.
Frankie: except-
Hortense: your Majesty attempts to go in the opposite direction to him in so many ways, yet the difference is only one of degree. What has started out of loyalty to your cousins [Paulina, Francisca, Theodelinde] - a notion I am sure he was very familiar with - has grown - organically - by accident into something that he wished to accomplish by design. I think he would be very proud of you, your Majesty, for accomplishing what he could not.
Frankie: *scoffs* he'd have called me a damned cowardly fool is what he'd have thought. He would order me shot as the duc d'Enghien.
Hortense: perhaps. But perhaps that is why you have succeeded better in eighteen months than he did in eighteen years. You have governments friendly to you in Portugal, Spain, England, Naples, Modena, Tuscany, without even unsheathing your sword. Perhaps because you haven't.
Frankie: you left out Greece. Cousin Othon's coming to Venice in the New Year.
Hortense: I rest my case.
Chamberlain: your Majesty, the children have returned
Hortense: *puts Therese off her lap* *stands up achily* *offers her arm to Frankie* *cheerfully* shall we go greet them your Majesty?
Frankie: of course, Madame
*cut to the rest of the afternoon* *in various rooms of the house we see Frankie showing off his daughters/son[7] to the other guests* *the Beauharnais have turned out in full force* *the Crown Princess of Sweden* *the Crown Prince and pregnant Princess of Modena* *the Empress Brasil and her daughter* *Prince Vasa, his wife and their daughter, Carola* *Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Princess of Baden* *the Prince of Sigmaringen, his wife and their children, Leopold and Stephanie* *Monsieur Charles arriving with his brother and sister-in-law* *their children excitedly running to greet them* *Hortense talking to her elder son, gesturing at Frankie. Louis Napoléon first shaking his head. Then his wife puts her hand on his arm and nods. He agrees* *Frankie sharing a cigarette in the courtyard with his nephew, Maximilien de Beauharnais* *the children running around together happily* *Hortense sitting at the head of the dining table as the family enjoys swapping stories* *in short, by comparison to the squabbling we've seen from the Bonapartes, the Beauharnais give the impression of a typical bourgeoisie family reunion*
*cut to morning* *the house is quiet*
Hortense: *lying in bed when the door to her bedroom opens*
Abbé Bertrand: you sent for me Madame?
Hortense: *smiles sweetly* oui Monsieur l'Abbé. But only for a moment...then we shall take our departure together.
Abbé Bertrand: *confused by her words* Madame? *walks over to bed when she doesn't respond* *he checks her pulse* *then kneels at the bed whispering* Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis...
*fade to black*
[1] Well, then? I'll go far away
[2] Karoline's a bit of a scamp, bit like her dad. She's also four, so she's going through that "wonderful" phase where they do the opposite of everything you tell them to do.
[3] I have no idea whether Abbé Bertrand was still alive or not, but I couldn't find the name of any other priest associated intimately with Hortense. He was tutor to her sons until roughly 1820 IIRC
[4] Hortense apparently died of cancer, but its not said "what" cancer. Some sources speculate it was uterine cancer while another calls it cancer of the throat, another speculates breast/lung cancer
[5] this would be the illegitimate son of Queen Maria Isabel by Count von Schmucker, born in 1833.
[6] this isn't Hortense flattering him, according to a book on Percier and Fontaine this was a genuine plan in the spring of 1812
[7] I know Frankie dragging his kids behind him like a frigging pull-toy sounds a bit extreme, but as a kid who was abandoned by his mother, he's going to want to make very certain that his kids a) don't feel like that and b) he probably doesn't trust anyone not to slip them something. They may be bastards, but according to the Napoleonic Constitution he has the right to adopt them and name them his successor if he so wishes
@The_Most_Happy @isabella @VVD0D95 @Jan Olbracht @Tarabas @Ramontxo @HortenseMancini @Anarch King of Dipsodes @Dragonboy @Fehérvári @kaiidth @Curtain Jerker @LordKalvan @Taloc13 @Beacon @TimTurner @John Farson @Old1812 @TheBeanieBaron @Electric Monk @Francesco.russo @EMT @euromellows @TeePee @SavoyTruffle @raharris1973 @Xenophonte @colleoni @Kurt_Steiner @Wendell @KingSweden24 @Basileus_Komnenos
