Sissi, l'impératrice rebelle

In reality that happened: the royal mother in law and father in law lunched with the couple the day after the wedding and gave her the money in public. This troubled young Elisabeth so much that she never forgot the issue. We must remember she was only 16. She was so embarrassed that she kept a fear for sex all her life. Perhaps this began to appear as a trauma. Also the constant meddling of her aunt and mother in law. As you say, she kept all her children away from her, critiqued her teeth and manners (which she considered inappropriate for an empress), and when Sissi finally went to Venice with her husband and children, her eldest daughter died, and the mother in law blamed her for that unfortunate and premature death. She never recovered.

Sissi may be forever linked in movie fans' memories with young and lovely Romy Schneider in those saccharine Austrian 50s films that made her life seem like a fairy tale. But Elizabeth of Austria's REAL tormented life was far more interesting and eventful, and this TV-made French-German film tries to reassess and de-glamorize the "myth" -- and half-succeeds.

Her life story was so fascinating that we tend to be condescending with the usual clichés that abound in any "royalty" movie, and also to the unimaginative, hurried, obvious direction (the final assassination sequence really sucks and is historically inaccurate, as are other situations depicted in the film). Production values are OK considering it's a TV production, locations are stunning and costumes are fine. The script links Sissi's troubled spirit and soul-searching with then uprising science of psychology, having her undergo sessions to talk about her life. The strict routine of Austro-Hungarian Royalty is glimpsed in some very good moments -- like when Sissi, to her horror, is literally "paid" in golden coins for having consumed her marriage with the Prince (did that really happen? Anyway, the scene works). Or when we see that the main job of some 2 or 3 of her chambermaids is just to comb her body-long hair. Or when we witness her despair as she realizes she will have no say whatsoever concerning her beloved son's upbringing and education.

The film relies heavily on the thin shoulders of Arielle Dombasle: if you can accept her very 21th century facial lifts and make-up as 19th century Sissi, OK. If you don't, it's going to be rougher. Anyway, this miniseries is far from bad and worth a look, if only to get a glimpse of the Austrian Empress's tumultuous life story. Not for historians, though.

I saw this film only for Ariell Dombasle. The expectation about historical accuracy was very low, the predictibility of a sentimental story, too sentimental , maybe, very high. And indeed, the dissapointment was impossible in this conditions. Because the story seems a pretext for the classic series about Sissi in other manner. Arielle Dombasle gives her Elisabeth and she does it well , if you do not ignore the long career of actresss, the surprises are far to be existent. A beautiful pink film. And that is all.

This was a movie that could have been great if there were not so many unnecessary historical inaccuracies and if the actors had been chosen or made up to look a little more like the real persons (not very difficult). Sissi did not go to Mayerling to see her dead son, she also did not die in the street; they carried her on to the boat and then back to the hotel, which was much more dramatic. I am not sure about the wedding night, but I find it exaggerated that a lady-in-waiting would undress the empress and leave her completely naked (and that in the 1850's) or that the emperor would announce very proudly "yes I finally laid her" to the assembled court. As far as I know this was done right away on the first night and nobody rewarded her as if she were a streetwalker. The saving grace of the movie is really Stephane Audran, excellent actress and true to character.

It may seem a dramatic, beautiful movie if you have no idea of Austrian history during the period of the First World War and before it. The main character, Sissy, reminded me of an innocent victim, who stirred up a hornet's nest without her own will, and is sentenced to never ending sufferings: too sentimental and not true-to-life. While watching "Sissy" I was constantly waiting for the moment when the famous Count Andassi finally comes in sight - and that disappointed me much: they made one of the most outstanding and clever people of the time, and (without any doubt) the best Hungarian Politician a mediocre noble from some Far-Away district of the vast Austrian Impire, not more than that!!! And the film-Sissy's altitude towards Andrassi didn't coincide with the reality. Not a word was said about the situation in Europe in 1989(and this is the year, when the events take place). And it's rather difficult to judge, when you have only the free interpretation of history and of the impress's life. Too many thing are exaggerated, too many curious features are forgotten(Well...for me they're curious, because my own life is connected with historians and history, and that reveals many secrets of the past:) ), but on the whole, the film's worth watching if you're ready not to pay attention to the part of the plot, that deals not with Sissy's reminiscences. My vote is 6!