This is one of the worst examples of the French cinema during the German occupation.The appalling screenplay casts Feuillère as the mistress of Napoleon the third 's cousin Jerome.She does not love him but ,as she makes it clear: "you do not know what it is to be hungry".Alas,she falls in love with a legitimist (a royalist).
Edwige Feuillère and the whole cast's playing is obsolete and ridiculous.There's even a priceless duel sequence between the courtesan and her -female -enemy ,a duel with foils!
Maurice Tourneur turned around from that disaster and made a genuine fantastic masterpiece "la main du diable" the following year.
Napoleon the third's reign was never lucky:the most famous movies which deal with it are duds:"violettes impériales" (Richard Pottier;1952)"La Castiglione" (1954,with American star Yvonne De Carlo)