This is the story of Elisabeth,the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria,who spent much of her life being laced into ever-tighter corsets in case anyone should think she was getting fat. Or rather,it’s a feminist fable suggested by the life of “Sisi” - her nickname. It may be entertaining,but it’s mostly unreliable as a biography.
A “corsage” is also the top half of a woman’s dress:that’s the sense of the title. Sisi’s corsets are the straitjacket she allows,as part of her campaign to stay beautiful. In 1877,she is now 40,older than the average life expectancy of the women in her empire. Her diet consists largely of beef broth and slices of orange. She is a fashion icon,famous for her elaborate hairdos,but she complains having her hair done is her only official duty.
Vicky Krieps gives a stunning performance as Sisi,the rebellious wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria,in Corsage.Felix Vratny
Vicky Krieps,in a spectacular performance,illuminates a rather trudging narrative. Sisi spends much of the film gasping for breath;the rest she spends pining,weeping,brooding and rebelling. There are suicide attempts,heroin use and lots of smoking. Sisi did smoke,which was unusual for a noblewoman in her position. The rest is largely supposition.
Her life was full of sadness and madness - but that ran in her family (Ludwig II of Bavaria was her much-loved cousin). In the German-speaking world,she is a household name,thanks in part to a trio of films starring Romy Schneider. The intention seems to be to invoke Diana Spencer,at least in the sense of shared tragedy. Sisi is a monarch for our times,flicking an unhappy finger at Vienna’s finest.
Elisabeth of Bavaria was only 16 when she married the dull and conservative “FJ” - who probably loved her more than she loved him. She bore him four children but then largely withdrew from royal duty,preferring long trips with her ladies-in-waiting. She was rumoured to have had several lovers. She was probably anorexic and depressive. Here,her remaining children turn against her and her husband (Florian Teichtmeister) is cold.
The pace of the film is glacial;the style,repressed but sumptuous. The settings impress us,but not her. Marie Kreutzer,the Vienna writer/director,is bored by mere fact. She gives us deliberate anachronisms - a tractor,a telephone,electrical wires,cinema before its invention - to warn us this is reverie,not reportage.
The real Sisi was assassinated by an Italian anarchist on Lake Geneva in 1898,when she was 60. Kreutzer gives her a more exotic ending,as if her assassination was not enough. Kreuzer’s invention is ingenious wishful thinking - a way of liberating Sisi from history,allowing her a freedom she never had. There’s a fraction too much fiction here.
Corsage is in cinemas from February 9.
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