Magnetic star Vicky Krieps (Bergman Island, MVFF44) vividly inhabits Empress Elisabeth of Austria in writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s (The Ground Beneath My Feet) examination of the beloved, restless, and occasionally scandalous 19th-century ruler at midlife, a performance for which Krieps won Best Actress at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. In this whimsical portrait, the woman known as “Sissi” is coming to terms with turning 40 and feeling constricted — as much by her social role in her dysfunctional marriage to the emotionally distant Emperor Franz Joseph I (Florian Teichtmeister) as by the corset that lends the film its name. Using a cool palette and a preference for understatement, Kreutzer deftly renders the social realities of the period, while offering fresh insight on the plight of a woman trapped by the beauty of her public image. With complex intelligence and verve, Krieps refreshes our notions of female regality, and of costume drama. In German, French, English, and Hungarian with English subtitles Director Marie Kreutzer (Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg 2022) 113 min.

MVFF45 Official Selection