Corsage Star Vicky Krieps on the Enduring Allure of Empress Sisi
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
In the new film Corsage, Vicky Krieps plays Empress Elisabeth of Austria (also known as Empress Sisi), a real-life historical figure, but the movie is anything but a traditional biopic. Instead, Krieps and director Marie Kreutzer take what we know about Sisi and turn it on its head, imagining the spirit of a woman whose visage has become a mainstay on Austrian tourist trinkets and foregoing tired historical drama tropes in favor of a whimsical, complicated, and truly human portrayal.
They’re not alone in their interest in Sisi. The Empress has been the subject of countless TV shows, films, books, and stage productions over the years, and recently the 19th-century royal was the subject of the Netflix series The Empress; next year, she’ll be the focus of the film Sisi & I. But what Corsage does that few other projects have is to look beyond Sisi’s well-known eccentricities—an obsession with horseback riding, an aversion to having her photo taken, and elaborate exercise and beauty regimens—to portray a complex, funny, and ultimately misunderstood woman who became one of history’s most compelling figures.
Here, Krieps explains the enduring appeal of Empress Sisi and how she found freedom in the character’s constricted world.
Sisi’s been the subject of so many films, among other projects. What about her spoke to you now?
I had this idea when I was working with Marie [on the movie We Used to Be Cool] in 2016 in Vienna, because I read a biography of Sisi when I was about 15. I said to her, “we should do a movie about this woman,” and she said, “that’s a really bad idea.” She didn’t agree because it’s such a cliché in Vienna; the poor woman wasn’t heard when she was alive but now she’s on every cup, on clothes, she’s in the museums, there’s pastry named after her. She has become sheer superficiality. That’s why she wasn’t interested. Two years later, I got a script in my letter box with a postcard that said, “Dear Vicky, you were right.” That’s how it started.
She has that peculiar kind of renown in that she’s an icon in some places but relatively unknown elsewhere.
She’s very European. When I read the biography I was too young to know what I know now, but I felt a darkness and a sadness behind her façade. She was riding horses all the time, nobody would see her, she had fitness tools built for her; that was all said as though she was just eccentric, but I kept wondering why. My suspicion was that there was some kind of sadness. Later on in life, when I was a grown up with my own child, I could relate to that so well; life was asking me into all of these different roles and each required certain things—I got so tired of this, it never seemed to end. I related to her and thought it would be interesting to talk about it. It seemed like what had been shown about her wasn’t true, it was whitewashed.
You portray her sadness, but there’s also a real spark to her. She’s funny, she’s rude, she finds real joy in certain aspects of her life.
The movie is my personal liberation from being the girl from Phantom Thread and being an actress who has to explain her choices. I didn’t come to play that game, I came to make art. This movie was the first time I thought, I’m going to act all the way that I want to, I want to be rebellious in ways she couldn’t. Nobody knew what I was going to do, only Marie got a heads up, but some of the things were even surprises to her.
What appeals to you about telling a historical story without being a traditional biopic?
It’s time we break free as a society. It’s been a long time that we’ve been navigating the same structures and rules; for far too long we’ve been hurt by that, and we all know it’s wrong. The only sensible thing to do is share our love, but we’re still being told to stay in our boxes. This is something I feel in this life, so whenever I can, I break free from it—and I want to show that to others.
Do you feel differently now when you see Sisi on the mugs and t-shirts?
I’m less sad now. Before when I saw those things, I felt so bad for her; the poor woman was misinterpreted and then used in that way. Now that we’ve made this movie, I smile.
You Might Also Like
