Monday film: Corsage (pre-premiere)
- Prinsen 6
- 24. April 18:00
The Monday film on April 24 is a brave and visually striking costume drama with a brilliant Vicky Krieps as the restless Empress Elisabeth of Austria. This film is a real feat of strength and a stylized psychological portrayal of a fascinating historical figure.
"Sisi", as she was called, became empress in 1854, when she was 16 years old. She was widely known to be one of Europe's most beautiful women, and she set contemporary fashion trends. But we meet Elisabeth in 1877; she celebrates her fortieth birthday and must fight to maintain her public image. She is known for her slender figure, so she asks the servants to lace her corset ever tighter to counter the rumors that she has put on weight. With a future full of duties ahead of her, Elisabeth rebels against people's perceptions, and makes a plan to secure her legacy. She travels to England and Bavaria where she visits former lovers and old friends, and tries to find a way back to the joy of life of her youth.
Vicky Krieps, known from Phantom Thread, does an excellent interpretation of Empress Elisabeth. Director and screenwriter Marie Kreutzer explores the contrast between Sisi's public persona and her personal desires in a film that brings to mind the Diana film Spencer and Sofia Coppola's Marie Antionette. Kreutzer's rebellious and constricted Elisabeth refuses to capitulate, and wages a war of attrition that ends in a magnificent climax.