The Sissi Trilogy appeals with its glamourous portrayal of the Empress.
Netflix’sThe Empressretells the story of Sisi’s marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph.
The film imagines Irma and Sisi in a twisted relationship that approaches romance, but never quite gets there.
Image via Film Movement
As Irma accompanies Sisi on a tour of Europe, the film meanders as well.
What Is ‘Sisi & I’ About?
Marie couldn’t hack it, but we expect a more relentless showing from Irma.
Sisi watches secretively from behind a curtained window.
Played with a cold glamour bySusanne Wolfe, Sisi is obsessed with her appearance and her weight.
She starves herself and demands her staff starve as well.
She dresses in the latest fashions and has Irma’s clothes burned for being too frilly.
Sisi & Iturns out not to have the patience for that kind of slow-simmering storytelling.
In fact, Sisi is drawn immediately to Irma’s normality.
Image via DCM
Famously, the Empress lived an ordinary childhood, before her marriage catapulted her into opulence.
Both become smitten with each other.
Irma loses the Empress' attention, and Viktor’s energy transforms palace life into a nonstop party.
Soon, this episode has also run its course.
Irma is furious with Sisi and tries to quit, but is charmed into staying.
Nevertheless, Irma is again sidelined.
After Sisi splits with her husband more firmly, the two head off alone to England.
It’s not just that we introduce a major new character very close to the end of the movie.
After Irma takes desperate action and the affair is cut short, Sisi enters a spiraling depression.
The similarity says a lot about our undying hunger for celebrities, which persists long after they’re gone.
After all, that’s sometimes how life is.
The film presents Sisi as someone with severe mental health issues, made worse by brushes with tragedy.
By the end of the movie, the film does manage to make a complete statement about Sisi.
But that statement is that Sisi is beyond our comprehension, too great a soul to be earthbound.
Be comforted by the fact that she dwelled among us, for a time.
The movie doesn’t end up serving Irma very well.
It initially builds her up as driven and complex, perhaps the Empress' equal.
But even if the movie doesn’t come to a clean point, it maintains a certain grandeur.
Sisi & Iis now playing in theaters in the U.S. Click below for showtimes near you.