"Corsage" is a film from 2022, so not totally new, but also far from old as we have 2024 now and the writer and director here is Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer and the success of her work here catapulted her into the elite of her country's filmmakers for sure if she wasn't there already before. She was in her mid40s when this got made and according to imdb her first work is from slightly over 20 years earlier, so this was a bit of an anniversary for her too. The film was Austria's official submission to the Oscars, but came short, even if it did reach the shortlist of films from which the eventual five nominees were selected. As a consequence, the biggest success stays maybe the BAFTA nomination, especially as far fore films were eligible there and not just one per country. The film comes relatively close to the two-hour mark, so it is not a short watch by any means and there are four production countries listed and five languages spoken, but the two dominant ones are probably Austria, also due to Kreutzer, and the German language. The cast really includes quite a mix of people if you look at where they are from. I must admit though that with the exception of the lead actress, I was not too familiar with most of the performers here, maybe not familiar with any of them even. Said lead actress is Vicky Krieps from Luxembourg, who turned 40 last year and was still under 40 when this movie got shot. Same age approximately like her character here, but we will get to that a little later. For now, it can be said that Krieps' performance is seen by most people as the highlight of the movie, but I am not too sure about that. Admittedly, this has to do with personal preference and perception, but I just don't see a lot of range in her or a great amount of different facial expressions. Clearly the Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards thought differently. Still, as of now, Krieps is probably mostly remembered for playing the female co-lead in what was probably the last movie from the legendary Daniel Day-Lewis's career and playing such a big role in a Paul Thomas Anderson film is not too shabby either.
But today we talk about this one here: The title character is of course Austrian princess Sissi (Elisabeth) who appeared in three really well-known films from the early 1960s I think too and there was played by the really young Rome Schneider. The idea there was pretty much the same, namely that Sissi cannot deal with the duties and conventions that came with her influential position. Or is it really influential or merely representative? In any case, the Sissi we got here in this modern film also cannot deal with those, but she does not even seem to be trying. Everything else is far different. It is much rougher and way obscener wherever you look. We hot Sissi swearing here, providing sexual favors that were considered absolute no-gos in films back then, we have her smoke, we have her take heroin (although the effects were clearly now known back then), we have her cheat (of course), we have her masturbate in the bathtub and so on. There's surely more stuff I forgot about, but you will recognize it when you see it. In general, this film leads us as far away from the idea of an innocent, dreamy Sissi as it gets. There also the inclusion of Krieps as lead actress makes sense. She is not a natural beauty and the only thing she has in common with Schneider's empress are the opulent dresses. Admittedly this film is also from a very different era of Sissi's life. She is around the age of 40 here and very disillusioned by now. Nonetheless, there are moments when her deep affection comes through, even if it concerns animals, horses, or when her ambitions are still highly obvious. She does not want to be a strong puppet either. She does not want people to let her win in whatever they do or compete against. She keeps saying that she still would have won and is better and superior on several occasions.
Nonetheless the film went over the top here and there that I was wondering if it maybe would have been a better idea if the movie had just been about a fictional princess and not an actual character, even if with somebody who lived so many centuries ago, there is already by definition a great deal of fictionalization. The ending makes it most obvious. We have Sissi on a big ship and she jumps into the water in a way where we can say that it was suicide as she is so far down there compared to the ceiling that it might have been impossible for anybody to get her back up on the ship. This is also a key difference to the actual Sissi because she lived for another 20 years and died from the effects of what you can probably call an assassination attempt from which she suffered a deep cut. I did not know that either after reading back yesterday. If we go back to the film, it also seems obvious that it was her plan to die there with how she makes sure some things are dealt with like how she found a new girl for her man already, which makes me think that she was absolutely not jealous and maybe did not love Franz Ferdinand, even if she clearly liked him. Just not as a lover perhaps. Oh yeah, I can add her pacifist tendencies that play a big role in the old films were also included here once or twice. But if we go back to the suicide tendency, the depiction of water plays a vital role there too. Just take the scene in which she tries to hold her breath underwater for as long as she can very early on. Maybe risks her health there too. So H2O was definitely a recurring inclusion here.
Another one was the concept of her lying next to people and in a way blessing them even by showing she is on their level, maybe listening to the or just having a connection for a short moment by simply being there. Of course, this is something that is maybe also certain people are not too happy about. But it fits nicely with Krieps' character visiting these women who are in cages because they lost their minds and in a way she feels connected with them, maybe because of the cage, maybe even because her mind is also not where it should be. This is open for discussion. Same applies to Krieps' performance. I just did not see the greatness as I stated earlier, but it was probably the full-nude scene that helped her there too with the awards recognition. I would not say it should have an impact and same is true about her reaction in the scene when Franz Ferdinand maybe comes too quickly or is just not the right person to satisfy her, but let's keep it children-friendly again, so same also applies to the chocolate scene. So I would say that the best thing about the film are maybe the costumes and sets that looked very competent. The money was there to make an impact. Or maybe the best thing is also the music. The applies to the instrumental inclusions, but also the two songs that you hear during the movie. The tune from the trailer is included on several occasions and I liked it, but the song that comes during or closely before the closing credits with this spectacular moment when Sissi jumps into the water was even better from my perspective. Definitely had to check for the name of the song and performer(s) there right away. This is pretty much it. I guess you can say that it is a competent film overall and there are not many flaws to it. The supporting actors all do a fine job with what they were given. Mostly it is not too much material to make an impact. I am curious anyway what kind of career Rosa Hajjaj will be having. She played Sissi's young daughter Valerie here, who was also ailing already, not getting enough fresh air and clearly Sissi does not want her to become the way she herself turned out. Or had to turn out.
As a whole, I also struggled with the film because it did not have any great moments (just like it had no terrible moments) and I was not really emotionally involved either. I am definitely curious what it would have looked like with a different actress in the lead. We'll never know. I am generally not a big fan of such comments that one film is rather for males than females or the other way around, but perhaps it is true with this one and an easier watch for women. I do think, however, that at least ten minutes could have been cut easily and it does drag a little bit. As a consequence, it is a very close call for me if I should give the outcome here a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, but let's be generous now and say it is a positive recommendation. Seeing the movie once is surely enough though and I personally hope that the existence of the film does not mean that it will take another ten years or even longer until another high-profile Sissi film gets made. The title is alright, but not great either, so in a way this film in a nutshell, and is of course another reference towards Elisabeth not really having any space and chance to breath because of her obligations. This is also really emphasized in the trailer of the movie already. Watching this is maybe a better idea for fans of Krieps than it is for fans of period pieces dealing with royalty because, with the exception of the looks, the film offers very little in that department. The moment Sissi calls her crown some kind of metal was very telling. As we are getting close to the end, let me say that I give the outcome overall here then a very cautious positive recommendation and I need to mention Florian Teichtmeister good performance and also his great mustache. Need to check out more films from the man and let me say that censorship is no justified reaction to wrong decisions in real life. Now that is really it.
But today we talk about this one here: The title character is of course Austrian princess Sissi (Elisabeth) who appeared in three really well-known films from the early 1960s I think too and there was played by the really young Rome Schneider. The idea there was pretty much the same, namely that Sissi cannot deal with the duties and conventions that came with her influential position. Or is it really influential or merely representative? In any case, the Sissi we got here in this modern film also cannot deal with those, but she does not even seem to be trying. Everything else is far different. It is much rougher and way obscener wherever you look. We hot Sissi swearing here, providing sexual favors that were considered absolute no-gos in films back then, we have her smoke, we have her take heroin (although the effects were clearly now known back then), we have her cheat (of course), we have her masturbate in the bathtub and so on. There's surely more stuff I forgot about, but you will recognize it when you see it. In general, this film leads us as far away from the idea of an innocent, dreamy Sissi as it gets. There also the inclusion of Krieps as lead actress makes sense. She is not a natural beauty and the only thing she has in common with Schneider's empress are the opulent dresses. Admittedly this film is also from a very different era of Sissi's life. She is around the age of 40 here and very disillusioned by now. Nonetheless, there are moments when her deep affection comes through, even if it concerns animals, horses, or when her ambitions are still highly obvious. She does not want to be a strong puppet either. She does not want people to let her win in whatever they do or compete against. She keeps saying that she still would have won and is better and superior on several occasions.
Nonetheless the film went over the top here and there that I was wondering if it maybe would have been a better idea if the movie had just been about a fictional princess and not an actual character, even if with somebody who lived so many centuries ago, there is already by definition a great deal of fictionalization. The ending makes it most obvious. We have Sissi on a big ship and she jumps into the water in a way where we can say that it was suicide as she is so far down there compared to the ceiling that it might have been impossible for anybody to get her back up on the ship. This is also a key difference to the actual Sissi because she lived for another 20 years and died from the effects of what you can probably call an assassination attempt from which she suffered a deep cut. I did not know that either after reading back yesterday. If we go back to the film, it also seems obvious that it was her plan to die there with how she makes sure some things are dealt with like how she found a new girl for her man already, which makes me think that she was absolutely not jealous and maybe did not love Franz Ferdinand, even if she clearly liked him. Just not as a lover perhaps. Oh yeah, I can add her pacifist tendencies that play a big role in the old films were also included here once or twice. But if we go back to the suicide tendency, the depiction of water plays a vital role there too. Just take the scene in which she tries to hold her breath underwater for as long as she can very early on. Maybe risks her health there too. So H2O was definitely a recurring inclusion here.
Another one was the concept of her lying next to people and in a way blessing them even by showing she is on their level, maybe listening to the or just having a connection for a short moment by simply being there. Of course, this is something that is maybe also certain people are not too happy about. But it fits nicely with Krieps' character visiting these women who are in cages because they lost their minds and in a way she feels connected with them, maybe because of the cage, maybe even because her mind is also not where it should be. This is open for discussion. Same applies to Krieps' performance. I just did not see the greatness as I stated earlier, but it was probably the full-nude scene that helped her there too with the awards recognition. I would not say it should have an impact and same is true about her reaction in the scene when Franz Ferdinand maybe comes too quickly or is just not the right person to satisfy her, but let's keep it children-friendly again, so same also applies to the chocolate scene. So I would say that the best thing about the film are maybe the costumes and sets that looked very competent. The money was there to make an impact. Or maybe the best thing is also the music. The applies to the instrumental inclusions, but also the two songs that you hear during the movie. The tune from the trailer is included on several occasions and I liked it, but the song that comes during or closely before the closing credits with this spectacular moment when Sissi jumps into the water was even better from my perspective. Definitely had to check for the name of the song and performer(s) there right away. This is pretty much it. I guess you can say that it is a competent film overall and there are not many flaws to it. The supporting actors all do a fine job with what they were given. Mostly it is not too much material to make an impact. I am curious anyway what kind of career Rosa Hajjaj will be having. She played Sissi's young daughter Valerie here, who was also ailing already, not getting enough fresh air and clearly Sissi does not want her to become the way she herself turned out. Or had to turn out.
As a whole, I also struggled with the film because it did not have any great moments (just like it had no terrible moments) and I was not really emotionally involved either. I am definitely curious what it would have looked like with a different actress in the lead. We'll never know. I am generally not a big fan of such comments that one film is rather for males than females or the other way around, but perhaps it is true with this one and an easier watch for women. I do think, however, that at least ten minutes could have been cut easily and it does drag a little bit. As a consequence, it is a very close call for me if I should give the outcome here a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, but let's be generous now and say it is a positive recommendation. Seeing the movie once is surely enough though and I personally hope that the existence of the film does not mean that it will take another ten years or even longer until another high-profile Sissi film gets made. The title is alright, but not great either, so in a way this film in a nutshell, and is of course another reference towards Elisabeth not really having any space and chance to breath because of her obligations. This is also really emphasized in the trailer of the movie already. Watching this is maybe a better idea for fans of Krieps than it is for fans of period pieces dealing with royalty because, with the exception of the looks, the film offers very little in that department. The moment Sissi calls her crown some kind of metal was very telling. As we are getting close to the end, let me say that I give the outcome overall here then a very cautious positive recommendation and I need to mention Florian Teichtmeister good performance and also his great mustache. Need to check out more films from the man and let me say that censorship is no justified reaction to wrong decisions in real life. Now that is really it.