If you have been to Vienna, you will know that there everything is dedicated to Sissi: Sissi’s castle, Sissi’s museum, Sissi’s carriage… For more than a century, the Empress has fascinated multiple generations, and cinema is to blame for this: for many, Romy Schneider represents the character of eternal form, no matter what the historical documents say. Now, Vicky Krieps comes to put a new face on the Empress in a film about life angst, the search for identity and a corset the tighter the better.
This is not your parents’ Sissy
the legend of sissy he paints her with rosy cheeks, a smile on her face, and in love with her consort Franz. A movie love, wow. There was even a series of French-Canadian cartoons, ‘Princess Sissi’, which in the late 90s insisted on the myth of the Empress fighting for her love and her marriage. With this tidal wave of preconceived ideas that we all have in mind, ‘The Rebel Empress’ comes to subvert, in a turn very typical of the 21st century, all expectations we had about the historical character.
The main problem with this film is simply that it can be blamed the weariness of subversive biopics. Not in vain does it come after ‘Spencer’, ‘Marie Antoinette’ or ‘Blonde’: although the subversion of the biopic is always interesting, it is not as groundbreaking or novel as those, and sometimes the search for and explanation of eternal sadness remains a little halfway It may even be more similar at times to the idea of ’Once upon a time… in Hollywood’ and its forgetful historical account, but the truth is that ‘The Rebel Empress’ almost seems more like the continuation of a trend than an innovative film on their own merits.
Of course, if the film ends up falling a little lower than expected, it is not because of a spectacular Vicky Krieps, who confirms that she is one of the fittest actresses of our days. His interpretation, as melancholic as it is iconic, is a true prodigy that breaks the limits between actress and character, making it one. It is a fascinating symbiosis worthy of study, accompanied by an artistic intention, almost pictorial, in the direction.
We’re gonna party like it’s 1867
Marie Kreutzer, the film’s director, doesn’t resist taking down Sissi’s future. ‘The Rogue Empress’ never has the sometimes unintentionally parodic drama of ‘Spencer’, getting closer to the iconoclastic break of the Sofia Coppola tape. There are no Converse shoes or rock music: if ‘Marie Antoinette’ was the rebellious and adolescent image, this is an evolution with a more mature and serious tone, but which also allows the 21st century to enter through versions of current songs and details that are not they try to hide (fire exits, electric light…). This way of keeping the viewer always alert to the fictionality of the story helps to mitigate the drama.even if it was not the intention of the director.
Even without these touches, it was inevitable that news would slip through the cracks in the footage: a movie like this deals with powerfully current issues using the past as an excuse. The mischievous Sissi transforms before us into a woman in her late forties immersed in a life full of frustrations for which she sees no possible way out other than breaking with the manners of the time and what is expected of her. Feminism and empowerment despite everything between little cups and palaces.
Whoever expects in ‘The Rebel Empress’ a classic movie of kings, queens, tea, gossip and fans in the classic style, I better go back to the Romy Schneider classics. Curiously, the life of the actress, who ended up pigeonholed in the role of Sissi, has undeniable parallels with our protagonist: both try to remove a stone that externally dictates who they are and what they should do, even at the cost of their own mental health.
yes, sissy
The problem with the film is not its script, nor its fabulous cast, a technical section that gives everything (watch out for those exterior shots with exacerbated beauty) or a direction that gets into even the most uncomfortable corners of the empress. Its biggest fault comes from the same tone of the tape, which in its own lightness it has its sin: the drama of Sissi’s life is not quite well spun, her flirtations are unimportant and, if we feel sorry or anguish for the character, it is more because of the incredible interpretive mutation of Krieps than because of what we are told.
‘The Rebel Empress’ tries to encapsulate the small moments of pleasure that give meaning to Sissi’s life, while also showing how the court is ashamed of his behavior. The rebellion of the film itself against what has been established over the years has a satisfying ending that completely breaks the whole idea of a biopic that had not been broken before and makes way for fiction based on a real character: It is not, nor does it pretend to be, anything more than the psychological portrait of a broken woman who cannot, nor does she know how, to be happy..
Sissi gives her middle finger as she smokes away, pulls on her corset as tight as she can, tries to get sexually close to her husband, refuses to accept her age, talks to her son, shuts down even more… ‘The Rebel Empress’ is a compelling portrait of a life on eternal hiatus that has nothing by having everything. Although not as convincing as Larraín or as groundbreaking as Dominik, Kreutzer’s film has an authenticity that makes it unique, far from histrionics and focused on a tone as peaceful as it is heartbreaking. It’s not perfect, but at this point, who needs perfection?