Currently playing in theaters in France, Ridley Scott's latest film, Napoleon, focuses on the passionate relationship between Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) and Josephine (Vanessa Kirby). However, in a storyline that races through the life of this character, one of its darkest aspects is concealed: the re-establishment of slavery overseas in 1802. At the same time, the debate about the role his wife, the film's heroine, may have played in this decision is sidestepped: Josephine was born in Martinique, at Les Trois-Ilets, on a family plantation that had nearly two hundred slaves.

February 4, 1794, and the French Revolution abolished slavery for the first time. This was applied in Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe, where it provoked unrest, wars and massacres which led notably to the independence of Haiti. Conversely, it was not implemented in Martinique, which was temporarily under British occupation with the consent of the white landowners (the bekes, descendants of European origin), who saw it as a way of maintaining the oppressive system under the British flag.

The island became French again in 1802 when Bonaparte re-established the "legality" of slavery. In the Indian Ocean, landowners had never implemented the revolutionary abolition either. They thanked France's new ruler for re-establishing slavery, and in 1806 Réunion became Bonaparte Island.

In the absence of written proof, historians today dispute the role played in this restoration by Marie-Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, who became "Beauharnais" through her first marriage, then "Josephine" through an affectionate diminutive attributed to her by Bonaparte. "To my knowledge, there is no source documenting any intervention by Josephine," said Frédéric Régent, a historian of Guadeloupean origin, professor at the Sorbonne and one of the world's leading specialists on slavery. "There is no formal proof that she played a role," added Jean-François Niort, professor of legal history at the University of the West Indies. "Which is not to say that she didn't bring all her influence and charm to bear on this decision," he swiftly clarified.

Like many bekes who settled in Paris, Bonaparte's wife from 1796 and empress from 1804 was accompanied by slaves, like her servant Euphémie (who appears in Ridley Scott's film). In Paris, Josephine joined the very active circles of the great Creole landowners. These supporters of slavery were united in the influential Club de Clichy. This powerful political and economic lobby never ceased to intrigue, arguing that abolition had caused disorder overseas.

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