German filmmaker Frauke Finsterwalder's Sisi and I centers on two women who just weren't made for their times.
Hungarian Countess Irma Sztáray (Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall), 42, isn't interested in becoming a wife or a nun. As her cruel, infantilizing mother (Sibylle Canonica) puts it, "It's either marriage, the convent, or this," the latter a reference to Irma's new position as a lady-in-waiting to Austrian Empress Elisabeth (Styx's Susanne Wolff), aka Sisi. German-French actress Romy Schneider most famously played "Sissi" in a series of popular 1950s films.
Irma starts by meeting with her black-clad predecessor, Marie (Johanna Wokalek), who pokes, prods, and asks intrusive questions before warning that it's a challenging position. Irma's regrets kick into overdrive when forced to undergo humiliating trials to prove her strength and endurance. As the forthright Sisi explains, she refuses to live with "fat people and men."
The mostly-female household, situated on the Greek island of Corfu, adheres to a daily regimen of modernist garments, spartan meals, and tinctures of nettle juice and cocaine. Irma's associates include Fritzi (Sophie Hutter) and Count Berzeviczy (Stefan Kurt) who compete for the mercurial Empress's favors. Though she takes a shine to her newest staff member, she prefers the Emperor's flamboyant brother, Archduke Ludwig (Great Freedom's Georg Friedrich), who visits whenever he can.
Though it's clearly a bad idea, since Sisi tires of everyone eventually--like Irma's world weary predecessor--she falls in love with her restless employer as they continue on to Algiers, Althorp, and Geneva (all convincingly represented by Malta).
If Sisi has little affection for the Emperor (filmmaker Markus Schleinzer), who has been cavorting with a mistress in response to his wife's disinterest, that doesn't mean she doesn't have eyes for other men, unlike Irma, who quips, "Men always remind me of tablecloths." Though no one describes themselves as gay, it's pretty clear who is (Irma, Ludwig) and who isn't (the Emperor).
In Finsterwalder's conception, based on a 1909 memoir left behind by the real-life Irma, the lady-in-waiting is naïve and dangerously possessive, while Sisi comes across as bulimic and bipolar, even as those diagnoses didn't yet exist.
Tensions come to a head during a stay in the English countryside with Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer (New Tricks' Anthony Calf)--Princess Diana's great grandfather--when his handsome, if prickly young horseman, Captain Smythe (Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries), catches Sisi's eye, throwing Irma for a loop and leading her to take matters into her own hands.
Hüller, who appeared in Finsterwalder's 2013 Finsterworld, excels as Irma, who changes substantially throughout the film, while Wolff holds her own in a role of equal weight. The director, who wrote the screenplay with her husband, Swiss author Christian Kracht, avoids period music in favor of 20th-century tracks from female-led acts, like Nico and Portishead, aligning it with Sofia Coppola's anachronistic Marie Antoinette or even Yorgos Lanthimos's tragi-comic The Favourite, while the witty, award-winning costumes from Goodnight Mommy's Tanja Hausner combine 19th-century styles with forward-thinking flourishes.
Sisi & I followed two TV series and Corsage, Marie Kreuzer's 2022 biopic with Vicky Krieps, which was plagued by behind-the-scenes scandals. The timing appears to have adversely affected Finsterwalder's more opulent, if somewhat overlong film, though the two are quite different, with the exception of the modern music and fiercely private royal figure. Highly recommended to fans of inventive historical dramas, biographies from a distinctly feminist perspective, and the always-engaging Sandra Hüller.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
Sisi & I would be suitable for historical drama, international, and LGBTQ collections in academic and public libraries.
What kind of film series would this narrative fit in?
A film series on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Auastria, aka Sisi (or Sissi), would benefit from Frauke Finsterwalder's lively, attractive film. A series on the career of César Award-winning actress Sandra Hüller could also include Sisi & I alongside Toni Erdmann, Anatomy of a Fall, and The Zone of Interest, all of which have found international acclaim in recent years.