When Corsage starring Vicky Krieps arrived last year, its excitingly spirited take on the life of Empress Sisi justified its place in the already exceedingly lengthy list of films and TV shows about the royal (which includes the Netflix series The Empress, also released in 2022). So it is in this tall shadow that Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & I debuts at the Berlinale and unfortunately it struggles to make a case for itself, coming off as a paler echo of Marie Kreutzer’s invigorating film.
The comparisons between Sisi & I and Corsage will be unavoidable as both pictures tackle the later years in Sisi’s life and take an anachronistic approach to the soundtrack (in this case tunes by Portishead, Le Tigre, and Nico are among the playlist, albeit to lesser effect). But the key difference is that the temperamental royal (Susanne Wolff) in Sisi & I is portrayed through her relationship with lady-in-waiting Countess Irma Grafin von Sztaray (Sandra Hüller), with both getting about equal screen time.
The initially uncertain Irma steps into the position of Sisi’s right hand as the other options for a single, middle-age woman of the time — marriage or entering a convent — are hardly desirable to her. It takes Irma a moment to acclimate herself to the eccentricities of the Empress’ world but as they travel from Corfu to Algiers, Bavaria to England, Irma and Sisi develop a co-dependent bond, even if the the royal’s affections can be temporary, arbitrary, and never fully won. But for someone who routinely disposes of people in her retinue on a whim, Irma hangs on, indulging her Empress’ most oddball habits, but more importantly, proving herself to be an emotional ballast for Sisi during her most trying times.
The complexity and enigma of the Empress has long fascinated filmmakers for obvious reasons, yet the Sisi here is frustratingly one-dimensional. The royal’s woes seem borne only out of petulance and privilege, her struggle with the duties and expectations of being the most admired woman in Europe backgrounded in favor of personal grievances. There’s not a rebellious streak in Sisi so much as a consistent childish pout, one that makes her even more distant than perhaps Finsterwalder intended in the script, co-written with Christian Kracht. It’s a shame as it doesn’t give Wolff much to work with in a role that mostly has her pivoting back and forth from feisty troublemaker to deeply troubled. Hüller fares better as Irma must constantly negotiate how much she’ll tolerate being at the whims of Sisi’s moods and desires, even as much as she loves her.
A braver film would more closely examine the toxicity that lies at the core of Sisi and Irma’s arguably abusive relationship, but there’s not enough depth in the screenplay to move beyond the surface idiosyncracies of the Empress and the ruptures they cause around her. “Being in her presence was like having all the world’s light shine up you,” Irma says. But what does it mean that your existence can only be acknowledged in the orbit of another? It’s question that Sisi & I asks but never fully grapples with or persuasively answers.
Mounted with handsome production design and sumptuous costuming, Sisi & I often feels stuck in its period drama mold. There’s an incongruity at play between the film’s conventional, episodic storytelling and the mercurial Sisi who would probably be mortified at her own story being told in such an ordinary fashion. Even with the post-modern flourishes, Sisi & I sidesteps its contradictions, and avoids sounding out what it really means to reckon with creating a picture about somebody who abhorred being seen.
Director: Frauke Finsterwalder
Screenplay: Frauke Finsterwalder, Christian Kracht
Cast: Sandra Hüller, Susanne Wolff, Georg Friedrich, Stefan Kurt, Sophie Hutter, Maresi Riegner, Johanna Wokalek, Sibylle Canonica, Angela Winkler, Markus Schleinzer
Producers: Philipp Worm, Tobias Walker
Cinematography: Thomas W. Kiennast
Costume design: Tanja Hausner
Editing: Andreas Menn
Sound: Marco Teufen
Production companies: Dor Film (Austria), C-Films (Switzerland), Bayerischer Rundfunk (Germany), Südwestrundfunk (Germany), Arte (France), SRF (Switzerland)
World sales: The Match Factory
Venue: Berlinale (Panorama)
In German, English, French
132 minutes