Corsage
Written and directed by Marie Kreutzer
Starring Vicky Krieps, Katharina Lorenz, Jeanne Werner, and Florian Teichtmeister
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
In theaters in December 23 (NY), December 30 (LA), and expanding nationally January 6

by Jaime Davis, Staff Writer

In the opening scene of Marie Kreutzer’s imaginative, cheeky Corsage, Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Hungary (Vicky Krieps) lies underwater in her gorgeous copper tub while two ladies’ maids nervously watch. Eventually, thankfully, she comes up for air and asks how long she managed to stay under without breathing. She was, presumably, practicing to blow out the candles on her 40th birthday cake. After she manages to extinguish the candles successfully in one breathy blow, she’s praised for her youthful expenditure. As her friends, family, and royal consorts sing their way through the chorus of a congratulatory tune (“Long may she live and yet more so / Beautiful may she remain and yet more so”), Empress Elisabeth knows she must take those words to heart. At the ripe age of 40, it feels like everyone around her, from her stiff young daughter, to the royal doctor, to her husband, the Emperor, to her portraitist, to her sensitive son, to her loyal attendants, acts as if her life is over, death has come knocking, and she must act in accordance with her age. Her world is one of appearances - she must keep up her good looks and small stature to quell the people’s gossip; her husband must wear fake beard pieces to appear more masculine and powerful in public. As such, our beloved Empress agonizes over the youth that remains, vigorously exercising, restricting her diet, outfitting her corsage (French for bodice) in the most painfully-boned corsets, and measuring herself on the daily. With this comes a fiercely independent streak - the older she gets, the more she insists on living life on her own terms. 

While many in North America may be familiar with Elisabeth, she’s more of a European icon, immortalized especially in certain parts of the continent. The life of the illustrious Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, who reigned from 1854 to 1898, affectionately known as “Sissi” or “Sisi”, has been highlighted most famously in the Sissi film trilogy (Sissi, 1955; Sissi: The Young Empress, 1956; and Sissi: Fateful Years of an Empress, 1957), all three of which still air on certain European TV channels at the holidays. Born and raised in a royal Bavarian household before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Habsburgs at the tender age of 16, Elisabeth was used to a rather unstructured environment before being thrust into the more esteemed, stuffy Habsburg way of life. Thrust onto the continental stage at such a young age, she was prized for her beauty, her extremely long hair, and the public immediately became enamored with and captivated by her.

Facets of her life have been depicted in everything from theater plays, operettas, ballets, films, and a number of television shows. Curiously, she even crops up in an episode of Pope Benedict XVI’s favorite tv series, Kommissar Rex, about a woman obsessed with the Habsburg royal. What perhaps lends itself to Elisabeth’s lasting impression on us all is the clash of contradictions at her core: a life of unequivocal means despite harsh rigidity coupled with an extremely overbearing mother-in-law made Elisabeth’s daily existence a painful one. It wasn’t long after her marriage that she developed a number of health ailments, including migraines and anxiety. Life as an empress later brought about a number of other eccentricities and issues - a penchant for smoking (most unfitting, per her young daughter), incessant exercise (most unbecoming of a lady), fainting for fun during her royal duties (hilarious), and disordered eating. She’s the late 1800’s version of Princess Kate, Princess Diana, and Meghan Markle all rolled into one - a Thoroughly Modern Millie of the Austrian Empire. 

Poor Elisabeth! But wait, poor Elisabeth? What is it about royals that makes us feel for them, even though in most cases they’ve benefited from the kind of substantial privilege many of us could never dream of? Many a film has tried to capture the ennui of the historical poor little empress/queen/princess/monarch - see The Young Victoria (2009), Marie Antoinette (2006), The Duchess (2008), Spencer (2021), Elizabeth (1998) & Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) as prime examples. I’m not criticizing these films - I’ve enjoyed them all! The royal biopic has taken on a form and genre all its own with some recent exceptions. Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, about another famous Habsburg, subverts the genre by depicting the last Queen of France as more of a modern punk heroine, complete with mostly contemporary soundtrack. In The Favourite (2018), director Yorgos Lanthimos reverses typical gender roles by heightening the makeup and costuming of the male characters. Along with his use of creative film techniques, the movie is a unique take on this historical genre. And while not necessarily steeped in history, Netflix’s Bridgerton includes many modern touches including classical takes on contemporary pop hits and color-washing the cast.

In the same vein, Corsage thwarts natural conventions. Director Kreutzer injects scenes with modern inanimate objects - plastic mop and bucket here, a vacuum cleaner there. Our lovely Empress cools herself off in a pool before exiting via a curved metal ladder that certainly was not available in 1878. A harpist plays “As Tears Go By”, singing the lyrics to the Rolling Stones’ song originally released in 1964 by Marianne Faithfull. These moments are surreal, disruptive even, throwing the viewer outside of the natural time and space. They seductively beg you to keep a closer watch, to keep an eye out for more oddities, to understand that this is a tale out of time because we still treat women of acclaim this way, women of all kinds this way. These instances can also be illustrative, like when one of the rooms in their imperial palace seems to shrink out of nowhere, and the Empress can barely stand tall without having to tilt her head to fit. Perhaps Kreutzer is trying to show how the Empress has outgrown a stately, royal life. 

Indeed, in reality, the Empress began to veer towards a life outside of the public eye, which the film also highlights in a number of scenes in which Elisabeth enlists her attendant, Marie Festetics (Katharina Lorenz), to act as her public replacement (thanks to some beautifully eerie face coverings). Marie has just been proposed to and sees this as her last chance for marriage, yet the Empress won’t allow it. Her own felicity relies upon Marie’s sacrifice, and she doesn’t waste a moment’s time in preparing Marie for her new role. The scenes between Krieps, Lorenz, and the Empress’ favorite attendant, Ida Ferenczy (Jeanne Werner) are some of the most compelling. The way in which Marie and Ida dutifully tend to their highness hint at a deep protectiveness that is interesting to watch. 

But the most compelling feature of the film is Vicky Krieps. You can’t take your eyes off her! There’s something about her presence that is at once disarming, commanding, and hypnotic. Whether she resembles the real Elisabeth or not, she feels like the perfect actor to take on someone who has fascinated generations. In fact every bit of Corsage feels as finely crafted as Krieps’ performance - the robust acting, costuming, and production design come together splendidly. Judith Kaufmann’s cinematography turns the film into what looks and feels like a painting come to life. Kreutzer’s inspired writing and direction turn what could have easily been a traditional biopic into a dreamlike fairy tale, one that holds the viewer under its spell even after the credits finish rolling. Watch Corsage fully open, with your eyes wide and attentive. Catch all of the little idiosyncrasies and oddities that Kreutzer sprinkles throughout. Enjoy Krieps’ magnetic performance. Let the legacy of Empress Elisabeth captivate you for the very first time or once again.