Vicky Krieps in Corsage. Image courtesy Universal Pictures
M, 144 minutes
4 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
When the size of a woman’s waist was something that mattered so much her body was laced up like a shoe, the undergarment that made women look one or more sizes smaller had a lot to answer for. In this wildly divergent take on the life of a 19th century Austrian Empress, a famed beauty in her day, the restrictions of the corsage were hard to bear. But it was known that women could faint when their underwear was too tight, so she could pretend to pass out to absent herself from boring royal duties.
Married to the Emperor when she was 17, Empress Elisabeth had reached 40 years of age by 1877, the time that is the focus of Corsage. The particular milestone was understandably traumatic for her, as famed beauty when looks were practically all that mattered. Even though 40 was, as someone reminds her, similar to the average life expectancy of women in her time.
For the versatile Austrian actress, Vicky Krieps (of last year’s lovely Bergman Island), the role of Elisabeth is a gift of a role. The film Corsage was apparently Krieps’ idea in the first place. Writer-director Marie Kreutzer got on board and the empress that they have created together is a character who speaks directly to women of today. Corsage has been called an alternative biography, a description well suited to its bold re-interpretation of the life of a well-documented historical figure. It’s an idea that could really take on.
Alternative biography? A bold re-interpretaton of a well-documented historical figure is an idea that could really take on
In opening scenes there are plenty of clues to Elisabeth’s headstrong personality. She likes to see how long she can hold her nose underwater in her bathtub. It startles the maids. If she feels like a ride on her horse during the night, nothing holds her back, and she smokes cigarettes, which upsets her young daughter. She likes to flirt with her handsome young riding instructor (Colin Morgan) and it clearly upsets her son.
Vicky Krieps masked at dinner in Corsage. Image courtesy Universal Pictures
On the other hand, the exercise rings dangling in her quarters signal her attitude to her responsibilities, to stay fit, slim and beautiful so she can to uphold her wifely and royal duties. The inattention of her husband ‘FJ’, Emperor Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), pains her. He still seems to love his wife but is simultaneously pursuing an affair with a much younger woman. Elisabeth eventually resorts to some practical measures.
I didn’t know what to make of a scene in which the Emperor removes his sideburns. The film is full of surprises, a lot of them witty and many of them visual. There is a lot of fun to be had here, and although the setting is the chilly imperial rooms and corridors of the House of Hapsburg in Vienna, the fictional world created and the personalities that inhabit it, are human and relatable. Much of this is the result of the impetuosity, vulnerability and warmth of Krieps’ performance, but it is the result of the flair in Kreutzer’s approach too.
Did the Empress and Freud every meet? What a fascinating encounter that would have been
A prominent theme in Corsage is mental illness. It is present in the representation of women like Elisabeth and other women in court and society who struggle with the repressions of their lives, but it also takes expression in the visits Elisabeth regularly makes to sanatoriums and asylums in the city. The plight of the patients and inmates is one of the film’s thematic concerns.
I don’t recall explicit references to Sigmund Freud, but it is impossible to reflect on late 19th century Viennese society without reflecting on the father of psychoanalysis who would have been studying and practising medicine as a contemporary of the Empress. Did they ever meet? What a fascinating encounter that would have been.
Just in case anyone is lulled into thinking this is an historically accurate version of the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, some anachronistic musical interpellations, both on the soundtrack and performed within the fictional world in frame, will jog them out of it. Who knew that Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Help Me Make It Through the Night’, or the Rolling Stones’ ‘As Tears Go By’ were around 150 years ago in imperial Vienna?
This historical drama, if it’s a period piece at all, is so playful. It flirts outrageously with the facts, inserts anachronistic flourishes, makes the most of this postmodern moment, and it gets its points across.
First published in the Canberra Times on 11 February 2023. Jane’s reviews are also published by Rotten Tomatoes