Starring: Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Tamas Lengyel, Finnegan Oldfield, Colin Morgan, Manuel Rubey, Alma Hasun, Aaron Friesz, Jeanne Werner, Katharina Lorenz
Distributor: Vendetta Films
Runtime: 114 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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A fictional account of one year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Christmas Eve 1877, Elisabeth, once idolised for her beauty, turns 40 and is officially deemed an old woman; she starts trying to maintain her public image.
Corsage has a pleasant meaning – a flower arrangement to be worn on a special occasion. There is a corsage or two in this historical drama, however, it refers more explicitly to a corset. While often seen literally in the movie, it also serves as a metaphor for constriction, restraint and difficulty in breathing.
Corsage audiences will be eager when they return home to look up the details about Empress of Elisabeth of Austria, wife of the Austria-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph, who was dominant in Europe in the second half of the 19th century. But, when they do the research, they will find that the screenplay is often a work of fiction.
Some helpful advice. SBS frequently programs a trilogy from the 1950s, Sissi. Three films were made starring Romy Schneider as the young Empress, chronicling her childhood, family in Bavaria, marriage to Joseph, and her attraction towards the Hungarian part of the Empire, as well as her frequent travels. This will give something of a background to Corsage where many of the themes are taken up in the setting of 20 years later, 1877-1878.
Krieps (Phantom Thread) gives a commanding performance as the Empress, who is turning 40, and conscious of criticisms of her appearance and weight (hence the frequent corset sequences and her being weighed). The relationship with her husband is quite formal. Her son, the Crown Prince is concerned about her state of mind, her love for constant travel and her preference for Hungary rather than the empire’s capital Vienna.
A 21st-century response to this film about a royal family will depend on our own attitudes towards royalty – and, for most, the main royal family of our experience is that of Britain.
The movie includes a lot of pomp and circumstance, including singing of the national anthem, honours paid to the Emperor and Empress, marching guards, elegant 19th century costumes, banquets and formality, servants everywhere, and gossip and scandal. The gossip includes the friendship of the Empress with her cousin, Ludwig of Bavaria, and his frequent presence at the court of Vienna. On a visit to England, where Elisabeth is able to indulge her passion for horse riding, there are rumours about her relationship with her trainer, Bay.
There are some 20th-century insertions in this narrative. There is a glimpse of a typewriter, a cigarette lighter, a heroin needle, a tractor, 20th-century touches of architecture – and, among the songs as background, Kris Kristofferson getting a nod with ‘Help Me Make it through the Night’, and Mick Jagger with ‘As Tears Go By’. So, the movie has look of the 19th century but there are reminders here and there of change, progress, and the demise of royalty. (After all, 36 years later there will be the assassination at Sarajevo – the catalyst for World War I.)
Particularly startling is a young Frenchman who has invented a motion picture camera – and some insertions of film with Elisabeth, image and not hearing her voice (which is critical and shouting). And this is 18 years before the Lumiere Bros first film clips.
So, a strange experience, an immersion in traditional historical storytelling, an invitation to critique from a 21st-century point of view, and those anomalies of invention inserted into the past.
Spoiler alert: Don’t believe the ending in Ancona, Italy. Elisabeth lived until her assassination in 1898.
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