SISSI
Germany, 1955, 102 minutes, 109 minutes, Colour.
Romy Schneider, Karlheinz Boehm, Magda Schneider, Gustav Knuth, Uta Franz, Walter Reyer, Vilma Degisscher.
Directed by Ernst Marischka.
This is the first of a trilogy of films about the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, the longest reigning Empress in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The series was made in the mid-50s, the time of popular historic pageant films, an emphasis on costumes and decor, lavish sets and backgrounds. (And a reminder that at this time there were not so many television programs dealing with history, with this kind of pomp and circumstance, fewer travelogues than audiences in the 21st-century take for granted.)
The first film focuses on the young Sissy, age 16, 17 children in a family of Bavarian nobility yet related to the Habsburgs ruling in Vienna. The father is jovial, not confined by protocols, the mother is ambitious, especially for the oldest daughter who is proposed to be the wife of the Emperor, Franz Joseph. The parents appear throughout the three films but especially strongly in the third film when Sissy is ill and her mother looks after her, with the attentions of her father.
So, the film opens with the beauty of the Bavarian countryside, transferring to the Viennese court and the lavish interiors. The Emperor is young, his mother a power behind the throne, organising his marriage. And the suggestion is Helene, Nene, the oldest of the daughters of the Bavarian family. Off they go to Vienna to celebrate the Emperor’s birthday.
The film is romantic rather than accurate historical, has a number of humorous scenes, even farcical (especially with the head of security and his mistaking Sissy’s identity). It is really like one of those operettas (and there is some singing and dancing) from middle Europe.
On the romantic side, Sissy, something of a tomboy, loving animals and hunting, escapes from the lodge and by chance, fishing, hook catches on the passing Emperor. They spend the time together, he not knowing who she is, his falling in love with her, her responding to him. Touch of Cinderella! She is forced to go to the Emperor’s birthday dinner where he discovers who she is, passing by the proposed fiancee, offering flowers to Sissy, inviting her to the cotillon. The Emperor has worked with his mother who bows to his decision (but who will reappear in each of the following films making huge demands on Sissy, eventually acknowledging her).
The film ends with all kinds of pageantry, especially the wedding. At the reception there has been Strauss music. At the wedding there is Handel and the Hallelujah Chorus. (In all three films, issy’s mother is played by Romy Schneider’s mother, Magda Schneider.)
The strains of real life, the demands of Empire, political difficulties and revolutions will come in the succeeding films.
