This film is complete historical nonsense and stupid. The Emperor plucks off his fake beard, the Empress walks around puffing on cigarettes and showing the middle finger. She bangs on the table and doesn't act imperial at all. That is not at all the nature of the true Empress "Sisi". She was rather shy, reserved and spoke very softly. If she wasn't happy with something, she just walked away or didn't go at all. The film is supposed to show the aging Empress who, at the age of 40, is no longer an ideal of beauty. At that time, however, it was still very popular and quite handsome. It was the time of the riding stays in England and Ireland where, as is well known, she had received great admiration from the local community - especially from Bay Middleton, one of the best riders.
She was also physically and mentally fit. The director of that film Marie Kreutzer says: "My aim was to tell a story within the facts that could have been like this." A resounding no! As she shows the Empress she definitely wasn't and she couldn't have been like that either. The Empress didn't smoke! It all comes from mix-ups and rumours. None of her close contemporaries reported that she has smoked. On the contrary! Her niece Marie Wallersee-Larisch writes in her memoirs: "And all four were sunk in huge leather armchairs. We were even allowed to smoke, with the exception of the Empress, of course" (Empress Elisabeth and I). That was in 1884 in the Amstel Hotel in Zaandvort/Amsterdam.
Also the equipment in the film is not suitable as well as the costumes. Recently, many want to depict and interpret Empress Elisabeth in a "modern" way, but that is a falsification of history. It's a shame about the amount of money this film cost - something better could have been done with it, which would be urgently needed today in order to meet the claim of the true Empress among the "guild souls". Almost 125 years after her death, it would be time to make sure of that with a good historically correct film.
She was also physically and mentally fit. The director of that film Marie Kreutzer says: "My aim was to tell a story within the facts that could have been like this." A resounding no! As she shows the Empress she definitely wasn't and she couldn't have been like that either. The Empress didn't smoke! It all comes from mix-ups and rumours. None of her close contemporaries reported that she has smoked. On the contrary! Her niece Marie Wallersee-Larisch writes in her memoirs: "And all four were sunk in huge leather armchairs. We were even allowed to smoke, with the exception of the Empress, of course" (Empress Elisabeth and I). That was in 1884 in the Amstel Hotel in Zaandvort/Amsterdam.
Also the equipment in the film is not suitable as well as the costumes. Recently, many want to depict and interpret Empress Elisabeth in a "modern" way, but that is a falsification of history. It's a shame about the amount of money this film cost - something better could have been done with it, which would be urgently needed today in order to meet the claim of the true Empress among the "guild souls". Almost 125 years after her death, it would be time to make sure of that with a good historically correct film.