“Corsage,” which arrives at the MV Film Center on January 6, welcomes in the New Year. Don’t be put off by the title, which doesn’t refer to the cluster of flowers a woman wears on her wrist, but rather is the German word for “bodice.” As such, she is an appropriate choice for this biopic about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, best known for her beauty and the clothes she wears of hers.
Leading the cast is Vicky Krieps, in the role of Empress Elisabeth. With contemporary music as a reminder that behind this film is a modern take on an 18th century story, Marie Kreutzer directs and writes the film. Other notable actors are Florian Teichtmeister, who plays Emperor Franz Joseph; Arron Friesz as Crown Prince of Austria and Elisabeth’s son; Katherina Lorenz as Marie Festetics; and Colin Morgan as Bay Middleton.
The viewer sees for the first time Empress Elisabeth, who had married Franz Joseph at the age of 16, submerged in a vat, much to the anguish of her maids. In a sequence that is repeated throughout the film, she is bound in a corset. She demands that it be tighter. She also repeatedly weighs herself, a reminder of her obsession with appearances. At one point, she passes out and then shows how she can fake it. She repeatedly smokes, another example of her attempts to express herself. The images are exquisite, particularly the decoration of the rooms to which the Empress is confined.
The viewer then sees the empress galloping across the field, and it is another way of conveying her attempts at freedom. At a big dinner, she blows out the candles for her 40th birthday. It’s not a happy time for her, and he leaves a dinner with an obscene gesture as he leaves her. She visits an infirmary, where she finds a man with syphilis and a woman frantically beating herself. He takes another horseback ride at night. She goes on a dinner without her somewhat alienated husband, whom she goes looking for. In many of the episodes, she travels to another region.
She meets a photographer who takes black and white pictures of her with his film camera. She is one more example of her curiosity, despite her anguish about turning 40. She starts wearing veils to hide her aging. On their next horseback excursion, she falls and is knocked unconscious. As a result, her horse is shot, much to her distress.
He takes fencing lessons, an example of his extra efforts to explore the meaning of his life. In another episode, she jumps out of a window and sustains a minor fracture, but survives. In a powerful scene, she is shown with an ex-lover of hers pouring chocolate on her face. It’s remarkable how many attempts she makes to find meaning for herself. For example, she tries heroin, on the recommendation of a doctor. She cuts her hair, a beauty aspect of her. And so it goes, with one episode after another illustrating her struggle to express herself.
Empress Elisabeth is somewhat of a reminder of the English royal court and its reliance on surfaces, particularly in its treatment of Diana Spencer. What is clear is Empress Elisabeth’s struggle to find a place for herself in a world that oppresses her. The beauty of the film’s many scenes belies her attempts to find a place for herself in a world that ignores her.
Information and tickets for “Corsage” are available at mvfilmsociety.com. Information about movies showing at Edgartown Cinemas is available at bit.ly/edgcinemas.
Source: news.google.com