Corsage
Vicky Krieps dons a crowning achievement as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Crown jewel: Vicky Krieps
When it comes to great films some years are better than others in the number they provide, but one can always count on seeing great performances. In most years, several stand out strongly and challenge each other as to which might be the best. In 2022, however, there is a clear winner for best actress and that is Vicky Krieps, who in Corsage finds the ideal role to suit her very individual talent. She herself seems to have recognised that the role of Empress Elisabeth of Austria would be perfect for her. I say that because it is on record that it was she who was the driving force behind this film, her passion for the subject causing her to persuade the writer-director Marie Kreutzer to make Corsage her next project (the two of them had worked together before on the 2016 film We Used To Be Cool).
Corsage takes place over ten months or so starting in December 1877 when the Empress, widely known as Sissi, had reached her fortieth birthday. Consequently, it covers much too short a period to be considered a biopic and, indeed, the film is more a portrait than a fully-fledged narrative tale. Placing the Empress firmly at its centre, Corsage is the study of her isolation brought about by the constrictions that shape her life (the film’s very title signifying that since it refers to the tight and weighty corsets that she wore). The restrictive nature of her life has two sources which the film invites us to consider. Given that she lived from 1837 to 1898, she was inevitably subject to the limitations that the society of that time imposed on women generally, but in addition there was her situation as the wife of the Emperor. As such, she had a marriage that was in itself far from happy with her husband, Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), known for his infidelities. But hardly less frustrating was the fact that, in contrast to the Emperor’s duties that made him a commanding figure, her role was severely limited allowing her to function only as his representative and giving her no satisfaction.
Corsage represents the life of the Empress from her own viewpoint and sees her as a would-be rebellious figure aware of the pointlessness of her life but unable to do much about it. Even if a visit to England might find her attracted to an Anglo-Scot (Colin Morgan) – the equivalent of a situation in which her husband would take full advantage – she would be aware that any actual involvement would lead to gossip that she could not afford. Indeed, her ordered life is such that her only regular close contact is with her young daughter, Valerie (Rosa Hajjaj), the more treasured because her first child died in infancy. But it is no surprise that it is the Emperor who controls Valerie’s upbringing.
The view of Sissi offered here is in marked contrast to the romantic portrait of her painted in films from the 1950s starring Romy Schneider that were popular in Europe and, indeed, Kreutzer’s view of her is deliberately one that reflects today’s attitudes. To bring this out, Corsage features anachronisms, a fact that might suggest that it had much in common with Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006) and the 2018 film by Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite. However, there is a very different feel here since the inner reality of Sissi’s world never ceases to ring true. The modern elements start with a song on the soundtrack and then mount up in details shown on screen that include opioid issues over heroin use and references to the moving picture innovator Louis Le Prince (Flanagan Oldfield) whose work in this area appears to have been brought forward.
But, if all of these touches encourage us to view this as a 21st century view of the 19th century and to ponder on what we are seeing accordingly, the gift that Vicky Krieps possesses (her ability to play a role from the inside and thus to enable us to sense what is being experienced and felt even when her character does not express it openly in words) ensures that her Sissi never ceases to appear real to us. Apparently many of the eccentricities of Sissi depicted in the film are authentic, but one is not looking for historical accuracy here but for a convincing portrayal of what it might have felt like to be Sissi. Earlier this year, we saw Krieps bring her special skills to the role of Clarisse in Hold Me Tight but, splendid as that performance was, her role in Corsage gives even wider scope to her expressive abilities. Whether historically accurate or not, everything about her Sissi represents a truth that we can believe in. I would also add that, in so far as Corsage is concerned with the cramping formalities of the court, it is far more persuasive than anything you might have seen lately on Netflix concerning life in Britain’s royal family.
If Krieps is undeniably great here, the film itself for all its virtues is less than perfect. That the subsidiary figures remain distinctly secondary is not necessarily a drawback, but the absence of a strong storyline does mean that the film has expressed a great part of what it has to offer in its first half and the second can seem rather bitty at times. Indeed, the frequent use of short scenes earlier on (a device effective in itself) does mean that eventually the film begins to seem longer than it is. Furthermore, the last scenes of all raise doubts. As in the Garbo classic Queen Christina, there is a striking conclusion on a ship, but here the film turns fully fictional and that feels a questionable move. Then, following the end credits, we see extra footage of Krieps doing a solo dance which unexpectedly prompted me to think of the Virginia Woolf novel Orlando - but what this adds to the film’s portrait of Sissi remained unclear to me.
Unquestionably, this is a film not to be missed. Its virtues include fine photography and good production values and the able supporting cast is notable, not least for the performance by Florian Teichtmeister as the Emperor. He plays his role with an admirable subtlety that helps us to understand Sissi’s concerns for him (this extends to her request to his young mistress that she be kind to him.) But ultimately it is for Krieps that you need to see Corsage: her performance will surely come to be seen as a cinema classic in its own right.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Jeanne Weaver, Rosa Hajjaj, Aaron Friesz, Tamás Lengyel, Ivana Urban, Colin Morgan, Flanagan Oldfield, Alma Hasun, Manuel Rubey, Regina Fitch, Raphael von Bargen, Alice Prosser, Alexander Pschill, Katharine Lorenz, Lilly Marie Tschörtner, Raphael Nicholas.
Dir Marie Kreutzer, Pro Alexander Kehr and Johanna Scherz, Screenplay Marie Kreutzer, Ph Judith Kaufmann, Pro Des Martin Reiter, Ed Ulrike Kofler, Music Camille, Costumes Monika Buttinger.
Arte France Cinéma/ARTE/Kazak Productions/Film AG Produktion/Komplizen Film/Samsa Film/ZDF Studios-Picturehouse Entertainment.
117 mins. Austria/Luxembourg/Germany/France. 2022. US Rel: 23 December 2022. UK Rel: 26 December 2022. Cert. 15.