Direction: Marie Kreutzer
Country: Austria
Staged with maturity and discernment, Corsage is a moody fictional period drama focused on the restless 40-year-old Empress Elizabeth of Austria, who, tired of conforming with the immaculate figure she had promoted in her youth, becomes an object of criticism, gossip and rumors. Impulsive and unfaithful, the princess is seen with distrust by the society and her family, often embarrassing her husband, the Emperor Franz Joseph I (Florian Teichtmeister) and children. Although Sissi’s erratic behavior makes impractical a salutary public image, she exhibits a compassionate personality for the war-wounded men and mental patients.
Perpetually commanding in the lead, Vicky Krieps is impressive in the role. Corsage serves as another showcase for the amazing acting skills of this confident actress who also managed to unearth strong and complex characters in Bergman Island (2021), Hold Me Tight (2021) and Phantom Thread (2017).
Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer (The Ground Beneath My Feet, 2019), besides taking some liberties in the script and form, avoids unnecessary entanglement and has no use of sentiment in a story mounted with enough self-destructiveness, mordancy and rebelliousness for us to enjoy it bitter. Even if sparse in surprises and quite unconvincing as a depiction of the 19th-century aristocratic life, the film keeps us interested, with a story that, being as stiff as the Empress’ corset tightness, carries a lot of metaphor regarding modern women. It deserves some attention for its tenacity and provocation.
