CORSAGE

Germany, 2022, 114 minutes, Colour.

Vicki Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Tamas Lengyel, Finegan Oldfield, Colin Morgan, Manuel Rubey, Alma Hasun, Aaron Friesz, Jeanne Werner, Katharina Lorenz.

Directed by Marie Kreutzer.

Corsage has a pleasant meaning, the flower arrangement to be worn on a special occasion. There is a corsage or two in this historical drama. However, it refers more explicitly to a corset, often seen literally here, but it is serving as a metaphor for constriction, restraint, difficulty in breathing, worn to give an illusion of a trim figure.

Audiences who watch Corsage will be eager when they return home to look up the details about Empress of Elizabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph, dominant in the second half of the 19^th century, the Hapsburg Empire, centred in affluent and splendid Vienna. But, when they do the research, they will find that the screenplay is often a work of fiction.

Some helpful advice. SBS frequently programs a trilogy from the 1950s, Sissi. Three films were made starring the young Romy Schneider as the very young Empress, her childhood, family in Bavaria, her marriage to friends Joseph, the early years, family, her attraction towards the Hungarian part of the Empire, her frequent travels. This will give something of a background to Corsage, many of the themes taken up in the setting of 20 years later, 1877-1878.

Vicki Krieps (Phantom Thread) gives a commanding performance as the Empress, turning 40, with children including the Crown Prince and the young daughter, Valerie, feeling her age, conscious of criticisms of her appearance and weight (hence the frequent corset sequences and her being weighed). The relationship with her husband is quite formal. The Crown Prince is concerned about her, her state of mind, her love for travel, her preferring to stay in Hungary rather than in Austria.

A 21^st-century response to this film about a royal family will depend on our own attitudes towards royalty – and, for most, the main royal family of our experience is that of Britain. With the death of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of King Charles, with the background of the history of Diana, with Andrew and his scandals, with the alienation of Harry and Meghan, audiences may watch this story of a royal family, their sense of entitlement, their lavish and expensive lifestyle, their being on public display, with contemporary judgements about royalty.

There is a lot of pomp and circumstance, singing of the national anthem, with honour to the Emperor and Empress, marching guards, elegant 19^th century costumes, banquets and formality, servants everywhere, bowing and scraping, kowtowing atmosphere, and servants at every door, capable of hearing every bit of gossip and scandal. And, there is gossip, with the friendship of the Empress with her cousin, Ludwig of Bavaria, and his frequent presence at the court of Vienna. On a visit to England, where Elizabeth is able to indulge her passion for horse riding, there are rumours about her relationship with her trainer, Bay.

But, audience catches some detail or hear some music and realise there are some 20^th-century insertions in this narrative. There is a glimpse of a typewriter, a cigarette lighter, a heroin needle, a tractor, 20^th-century touches of architecture – and, amongst the songs as background, Kris Kristofferson getting a nod with Help Me Make it through the Night, and Mick Jagger with As Tears Go By. So, a look at the 19^th century but something of a reassessment, reminders here and there of change, progress, and the demise of royalty. (After all, 36 year later there will be the assassination at Sarajevo World War I.)

Particularly startling is a young Frenchman who has invented a motion picture camera – and some insertions of film with Elizabeth, image and not hearing her voice (which is critical and shouting). And this is 18 years before the Lumiere Bros first film clips.

So, a strange experience, an immersion in traditional historical storytelling, an invitation to critique from a 21^st-century point of view, and those anomalies of invention inserted into the past.

Spoiler alert: don’t believe the ending in Ancona, Italy. Elizabeth lived until her assassination in 1898.

1. The title, reality of the corset for the Empress, symbolic, the straitjacket in of royal life and duties? The need to break free?
2. A fictionalised story of the Empress Elizabeth, how much truth, how much fiction? 1877-1878, her turning 40, the end of childbearing, status as Empress, relationship with the Emperor, with her children? Audience knowledge of the historical facts?
3. The 21^st-century perception of royalty, royal families, status, power, expectations, public events, on show, state meals, guests, international connections? Sense of entitlement? Yet the restrictions, the continued demands, the public, media, politics?
4. Vicki Krieps, her performance as the Empress Elizabeth, at 40, her history as Empress, 20 years, standing by the Emperor, her relationship with Crown Prince, with Valerie, loving but detached? The issue of Hungary and her wanting to be in Hungary, her Bavarian background, the relationship with her cousin, Ludwig, his visits, intimacy? Her love of travel, being away, the sense of freedom, the horse riding symbolic of this? The visit to Hungary and her feeling at home? The visit to England, the holiday, Bay, her horse riding, the intimacy, her reaction to the rumours? Her staff, her relationship with Maria (and forbidding her to marry even though it was her final chains), the maids and treatment of the maids?
5. The Empress and her consciousness of figure, weight, the frequent scenes of the putting on the corset, typing it, getting weighed? Public comment about her figure? The Empress comments?
6. The Emperor, the Hapsburg Empire, his relationship with his wife, absences, his children, discussions with the Crown Prince? Sexual relationship with his wife? His expectations of her, to appear in public? His irritation of her being in Hungary, travels? The Empress later asking the young woman to be the Emperor’s mistress?
7. Ludwig of Bavaria, his personality, presence in the court, cousin of the Empress, their sequences together, play, touches of intimacy, his sexual orientation?
8. Members of the court, the Empress and her training with fencing, the artist at her posing, urging him to use her past portraits? Waiters, chefs? And the servants standing at the doors able to overhear everything?
9. The Empress, with her daughter, her daughters very adult behaviour, critical of her mother, concerned about her mother, their various interviews?
10. The visit to England, the English aristocracy, their welcome, her love for horse riding, Bay and his coaching, suggestions affair, the Empress cutting him off?
11. The visits to Hungary, her being at home there, for many years, Marie and the offer of marriage and the Empress’s refusal? The various courtiers their attention to the Empress?
12. The public appearances, the singing of the national anthem, the formality of the occasions, the Empress fainting, her later explanations how to fake fainting, rehearsing it, Ludwig’s attempts?
13. The continual corset imagery, weighing, being thin, exercise, horse riding and the fall? Impetuous in cutting off her hair, the maid whose whole career was to cut the hair and her dismay?
14. The decision to travel to Italy, with her companions, the sea, the boat, her diving into the sea?
15. An imaginative interpretation of the personality of the Empress – and the connection with the events of 1877-1878?