The dark side of Empress Elizabeth, known to all as Princess Sissy, in her forties, is being presented on the big screen in a new film.
Drops of water are heard falling one by one rhythmically on the floor while immediately after: h empress elizabeth she holds her breath in the bathtub and above her two maids count the seconds one by one. The more, the greater her endurance – in a few seconds the director Marie Kreutzer shows us in a very special way the life of the Austrian empress who was known to adore Corfu and Achilleion. Already in the title of the film “Corsage” the strict conditions of court life are captured.
Cinematic pauses, sharp scenes without unnecessary details, face-centered frames that outline in detail the face of the queen now and not Princess Sissy as we know her all take us to another era.
A mature woman of 40 years
Vienna, December 1877: The Emperor’s Wife Francis-Joseph I of Austria she turns forty years old, trying to meet her royal obligations set by the society of the time and as a result she feels that she is suffocating as she cannot satisfy the needs of her environment. She thinks that at 40 her life is over. She is not allowed to have an opinion on all matters and especially on political and military matters. But many times she doesn’t follow protocol as intended, using various tricks along with her commanding presence.
The queen is obsessed with her body and beauty, she experiences a mid-life crisis, almost anorexic but also depressed, she is not afraid to break with the king and her husband. Brilliant and creative, her desire to claim what she wants is clearly visible in the film. She even fakes fainting to save a boring royal appearance and then laughs at her aides about it.
“Harder, harder” she shouts to her maids, whose hands have ached from trying to tighten her tiny corset even tighter. She is forced to wear a “mask” when she is in the palace, which she sometimes tries to leave behind by expressing her true self without being allowed to have an opinion on the happenings of the time. She feels like she is locked in a cage, like the women in the institutions she visits. Her escapist tendencies are also clearly visible, as she disappears from the palace for months, leaving even her young daughter behind. A different film about gender equality
The director, known for the social placements of her films, in addition to the historical look at the events, puts the issue of gender equality on the carpet with a modern look. The heroine of the period film, like modern women, struggles to meet her daily obligations while seeking recognition and attention for what she really is and not for what others expect of her. The film also simultaneously touches on contemporary issues such as the aging of women and eating disorders, through which women in a male-dominated society struggle to stay young, thin and beautiful. A characteristic scene of the film, women who dared to behave “hysterically” towards their husbands are imprisoned in institutions where they remain handcuffed to their beds.
Solitude, authenticity and diversity are the three dominant characteristics of the empress, which Vicky Cripps manages to embody in a particularly slick way, characteristics that many women may feel but may never express. The film ends with the empress on a ship heading to Greece, her favorite place, where she suddenly jumps off the ship’s deck, ending her life and the film with this subversive move. It seems that Elisabeth of Austria only wanted one thing, to be free.
DW – Iosifina Tsagalidou
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