Sisi & I offers a familiar yet enjoyable portrayal of Empress Elisabeth, but ultimately lacks the depth to transcend the well-trodden path of royal biopics.
For all the obvious reasons, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, has always captivated the interest of the European public. It’s hard not to. Not only was she renowned for her beauty and grace, but she was also the rebellious and later reclusive wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and King of Hungary, whose empire spanned across a large part of Europe.
Sisi’s depiction on the big screen began in 1921, but she particularly gained popularity with audiences through the 1950s trilogy that held sway all the way up to the 90s. It’s not unusual that Sisi’s life occupied the minds of her generation and beyond.
Her life was rife with tragedy, which successfully filled news columns and was dramatized for stage and screen. She found life in the court suffocating, suffered family deaths, and was assassinated in Geneva, birthing a legend. These elements became fertile ground in recent years for many attempts at revisionism. Netflix released a seven-part series in 2022 to great interest, while Corsage, starring the magnetic Vicky Krieps, took over the film festival circuit in the same year.
There seems to be little need for another exploration of the empress’ later years in Sisi & I, which came out in 2023. Much like Corsage, it deals with the irreverent nature of the empress as well as her mounting obsession with youth and appearance. Here, though, the focus is on her lady-in-waiting Irma, portrayed by Sandra Huller, whose resemblance to Krieps is more than passing.
We are introduced to Irma for laughs – she’s a tomboy who isn’t particularly attractive nor athletic (despite the wishes of the empress), while Sisi (Susanne Wolff) is portrayed as a bohemian trapped in a rigid system. She gets tattoos from her brother-in-law, takes drugs, and is otherwise in a pensive mood, embittered by the state of the world. Irma serves as a wide-eyed innocent who is in equal measure awed and afraid of Sisi. Theirs is a volatile relationship that suffers at the empress’s whims.
Although Sisi & I is a pleasant film, it doesn’t bring much new to the table, especially after Corsage, where we’ve already seen Sisi as middle-aged, bulimic, and slightly neurotic, fighting to maintain her individuality. What it does bring is an easy way to create a female-centered movie with that favorite catchphrase ‘strong female characters.’ And here lies the mediocrity of the movie and the creators’ vision as stories about female royalty are abundant but the treatment is pretty much the same.
Although Huller and Wolff give wonderful performances, there is little story or final point to combine with the performances. In many ways, any movie about Sisi fails because of the inherent privilege of the heroine. There is practically nothing at stake if she acts out or breaks royal protocol. The appeal lies slightly in her tragic demise. And that is very old news.
Film Fest Report was a proud media partner of the 35th Trieste Film Festival.
