"Corsage" -- Movie Review

 

This week at Lincoln Center, I attended an advance screening of the new Austrian historical drama “Corsage”.

Synopsis

When Empress Elizabeth of Austria turns 40, can she find a way to maintain her youthful public image?

Story

In the Austria of 1877, Empress Elizabeth (Vicky Krieps) turns 40 on Christmas Eve of that year.  This is a traumatic event for her because in that day and age, she is wrongly perceived as old; given the fact that she has been considered a beauty and a trendsetter (particularly in terms of fashion), it comes as quite a blow that society suddenly no longer sees her as youthful.  As a result, she resorts to some rather drastic measures to maintain a youthful reputation and appearance.  For one thing, she’s just barely getting by on a starvation diet in order to keep her weight down.  Additionally, she has her attendants fasten her corset in such a way that it is unreasonably tight so as to appear thin. 

To make matters even worse, her husband the Emperor is paying her less and less attention.  Part of the reason for this because his attention has been focused on an ongoing military conflict with Bosnia.  Another reason is that he sees his wife’s public behavior as being somewhat erratic; with the viability of the empire foremost in his mind, he has been increasingly distancing himself from her over time.  The Empress is painfully aware of this and winds up seeking male companionship outside her marriage – even traveling abroad to do so.  Rumors about her infidelity circulate quickly, causing both the Emperor and their daughter great embarrassment. 

Eventually, things become too unbearable for the Empress; she begins to self-medicate and stops making public appearances.  She becomes increasingly secluded, only interacting with her servants and most trusted aids.  Ultimately, when her attempts at affairs don’t work out the way she had planned, she sees her life as empty and without value or pleasure.  The activities she used to enjoy become meaningless to her now.  With her reputation as a world traveler still intact, she decides to go on a cruise with her aids in the hope that time away from her quotidian life will somehow reinvigorate her.  But will she find the peace of mind she so desperately seeks? 

Review

Overall, “Corsage” is a rather underwhelming experience, despite its daring attempts to flip the genre of the historical biopic on its ear.  This is more of a fictional take on the Empress rather than an historically accurate one; this is too bad because the woman’s actual story is considerably more interesting than this occasionally dull and slowly paced motion picture (and her actual demise more fascinating than the melodramatic version in this interpretation).  Reviews tend to highlight the performance by Vicky Krieps as the Empress; just as the film is unconventional, so is her portrayal of the Empress. 

Unless you are intimately familiar with the history of 19th-century Austria in general, or Empress Elizabeth in particular, it will be difficult to discern fact from fiction – and make no mistake about it, this is a highly fictionalized version of the life of the Empress.  For example, in “Corsage”, she is prescribed heroin by her physician and we see her self-injecting.  There are also many anachronistic occurrences here, not the least of which being source music written by such famous 20^th century artists like Kris Kristofferson and The Rolling Stones being played by musicians on-screen. 

An interview with “Corsage” director Marie Kreutzer and star Vicky Krieps took place after the screening.  Krieps said that as a 14-year-old, she read a book about the Empress (nicknamed “Sisi”) and was fascinated by her because she felt that much of her behavior was imposed upon her by society.  Kreutzer also read a book about her as well, but it wasn’t very detailed and just contained the bare facts.  The director also added that despite Sisi being a complex character, she wasn’t terribly concerned about whether or not the audience would like her.  Instead, she wanted to tell a story about someone who projects many different faces, as we all do.