The defiance and despair of glamorous Elisabeth of Austria, trapped in a loveless marriage, has a familiar ring in Marie Kreutzer’s stately psychodrama
) at 40, struggling to maintain her flawless image and that of the empire she is expected to incarnate. Elisabeth’s aura of lofty grace depends on her rigorous control of her body, which involves the corsetry of the title being laced mercilessly tight, as well as workouts with exercise rings in her private gym, making her a muscular precursor to Madonna or Jane Fonda.
Enduring a politely loveless marriage to the emperor, Franz Joseph, Sissi yearns for affection, or libidinous release, but it evades her. One candidate is an English riding master , whom she visits in Northamptonshire; significantly, althoughdoesn’t specify this, Elisabeth’s actual historical visit was to none other than the Spencers at Althorp.
Just as many people are raising their eyebrows at today’s disenchanted rebel royals, some may feel that Elisabeth’s pampered imprisonment is only relative cause for complaint. She’s certainly better off than the women she sees in a mental ward, strapped into cage-like enclosures, or indeed her own servants and aristocratic attendants: she forbids a lady-in-waiting to marry because, it’s clear, she effectively owns her.
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