Sisi & I

Here's a fictionalised historical biopic of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, seen through the eyes of her lady-in-waiting, Irma Sztaray. The political background was where the interest lay for me, whether it was hubby Emperor Franz Joseph calling Sisi back to court, or bro-in-law Viktor talking about Viennese orgies, or the trick of using a look-alike to stand in as Empress, even an odd meeting with Queen Victoria, but this is all white noise in the grand scheme of the film. The relationship between Irma and Elisabeth (or Sisi) is the bedrock. They begin as employee and employer, albeit in a slightly dysfunctional workplace, but soon they become firm, with Irma especially discovering deep feelings for the ratbag royal.

The film opens with Irma getting proper walloped by her horrid mother and shortly thereafter being seconded to Corfu to meet up with Sisi and her acolytes. Just when it felt like the majority of the film was going to be encased in this one locale, they up stumps to Algeria, then to Budapest, then to England, encountering hash in one place and a horny toff in another. It all winds up in a confusing (for me, anyway) tragedy by a lake, and if you know your late 19th century European history, you'll see it coming a mile off. Luckily, I was ignorant - hurray, no spoilers!

The tone of this film is a little tricky to land - one minute it's dealing with sensitive subjects like bulimia, the next a saucy play is staged with Viktor coming across all "Oooooh Matron!" Uneven, is putting it lightly. There are visible hints of Portrait of a Lady on Fire and The Favourite, along with Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette in the use of modern music in a period drama, which really didn't work here. There's a lizard motif that returns again and again (you can't keep it/her captive) and the 'sharp object' theme is also pretty prevalent, for reasons I won't give away here.

Sandra Hüller and Susanne Wolff give solid performances as Irma and Sisi, and director/co-writer, Frauke Finsterwalder (great name) weaves some nice moments into the story, but it's all bit messy and dull at the same time. Not terrible, just not as engaging as it could have been.

Sisi & I is showing as part of the German Film Festival at Palace cinemas around Australia from May 2-24.

See also:

Going against type here, I thought I'd mention a few of the films showing at the German FF that look interesting. I've seen none of them, mind, but I've earmarked the following: A Thousand Lines (Michael Herbig); The Teachers' Lounge (Ilker Çatak); B-Movie: Lust & Sound In West Berlin 1979-1989 (Jörg A. Hoppe, Heiko Lange, Klaus Maeck); Lost Transport (Saskia Deising); Merkel (Eva Weber); and And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead (Frederick Steiner).