Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & I (Sisi & Ich) sat completed on the shelf for nearly two years after its initial shooting dates, and was even further delayed for release in America by almost an entire other year following its premiere at the 2023 Berlinale, which, in any other circumstance, would spell trouble for any film, but for Sisi & I, everything came with a good reason. While the film was technically finished first, Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, a film also about the rebellious nature of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, beat it to the punch by securing a premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. To avoid any major comparisons between the two films, Sisi & I was held for a later date, which came the following year. However, its American release from Film Movement has come even later, again, not due to any issues with the film itself, but rather to capitalize on the immense popularity of lead actress Sandra Hüller following her incredibly impressive turns in two Oscar-winning films of 2023, The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, which also took home the Grand Prix and Palme d’Or prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (and also were my number 1 and number 2 films of last year, respectively). Why wouldn’t you want audiences to know that the talk of awards season leads your film, and not only that, she was also nominated for a German Film Award for her performance in it last year on top of all her other accolades of 2023? It’s simply smart marketing.
L-R: Susanne Wolff as Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Sandra Hüller as Irma Sztáray in Frauke Finsterwalder’s SISI & I. Photo courtesy of Film Movement/The Match Factory.
Sisi & I follows Irma Sztáray (Sandra Hüller), a 42-year-old Hungarian spinster and countess chosen by the Royal Court to become Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s (Susanne Wolff) lady-in-waiting as she grows increasingly distant from her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria (Markus Schleinzer), living away from Vienna in Greece, gallivanting with libertine friends, and generally eschewing the responsibilities of her position. Irma is initially tested by Elisabeth’s cruel initiation rituals and childlike ways, but as the women spend time with one another, they find themselves bonding over a shared disillusionment of polite society, men, and the arbitrary rules that keep women at all levels of nobility constrained.
L-R: Susanne Wolff as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Georg Friedrich as Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria, and Stefan Kurt as Count Berzeviczy in Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & I. Photo courtesy of Film Movement/The Match Factory.
I can understand why the filmmakers would want to hold on to the film’s release the way that they did, not just because of the subject matter, but because the two films do share very similar styles in portraying Elisabeth of Austria. Both films employ the Marie Antoinette (2006)-esque style of setting the film to an anachronistic soundtrack to signify the “punk rock,” “fuck you” nature of Elisabeth’s personality, with Sisi & I taking the far more aggressive, in-your-face approach with songs containing particularly obvious lyrics to portray the character’s feelings at any given point, almost like the stock music used on Netflix dating shows. Though, I’m willing to give it more of a pass here since A. The music’s mood does fit the film quite well, with a feminine frill twinged with deep melancholy, and B. Since I’m imagining the vast majority of the target audience of this film is located firmly within the German-speaking regions of Europe, I imagine much of the English lyrics will pass them by without as much consequence.
Still, even with this, I did find Sisi & I to have much less of a bite to it than Corsage (2022), with a much more tender hand in portraying Elisabeth as a tortured women at the behest of her domineering husband, simply looking for some fun, regardless of whether it’s at someone else’s expense. It ended up feeling like a much more serious, PG-13 version of The Favourite (2018) by the film’s conclusion. It’s far more tender and sympathetic to the plight of Elisabeth, which might ring a little too saccharine for a film like this for some given Elisabeth’s documented abrasive ways far beyond what’s portrayed in this film, but it gives a chance for both Hüller and Wolff (Styx) to interact with each other wonderfully.
And that’s what really seals Sisi & I as a really enjoyable watch are the two performances from Hüller and Wolff, both together in their infinite chemistry of two tired (in very different ways) women, but also on their own accords, too. Irma struggles with a life feeling unloved, and finally receiving the slightest bit of it from the most powerful woman of her home country becomes both intoxicating and overwhelming. Elisabeth must come to terms both with her husband’s abuse in Vienna, but also dealing with a lady-in-waiting who isn’t simply a fame-hungry socialite looking to leech as much influence off her as possible before being pettily dismissed, but rather is a woman who, like her, has forgotten what it’s like to know true companionship. These two factors weave a wonderful blanket of emotion that keep Sisi & I afloat with their gentility and nuance.
L-R: Susanne Wolff as Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Sandra Hüller as Irma Sztáray in Frauke Finsterwalder’s SISI & I. Photo courtesy of Film Movement/The Match Factory.
Sisi & I, aesthetically speaking, is as rich as Elisabeth of Austria herself, with beautiful, diverse settings across Europe and North Africa that are decadently captured in Super 16 mm — everything from the gorgeous, but not overbearingly lavish, sets to the stunning costume design. Everything from top to bottom in Sisi & I, as we’ve, frankly, come to expect and occasionally take for granted in period costume dramas such as this, is outfitted perfectly, and right on the scale it should. There’s a delicate balance to it that many films could take notes from.
L-R: Markus Schleinzer as Kaiser Franz Joseph and Sandra Hüller as Irma Sztáray in Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & I. Photo courtesy of Film Movement/The Match Factory.
Sisi & I, in the grand scheme of costume dramas, is gorgeously crafted and expertly acted, even if the story at its core isn’t one that strikes a particularly unique cord and certainly won’t light the world on fire. Still, that isn’t to say that what is presented here isn’t quite touching, occasionally very funny, very melancholy come the film’s third act pivot, and yet another example of why Sandra Hüller truly is at the top of her class when it comes to actresses of her generation from anywhere around the globe, and her pairing with Susanne Wolff exhibits equally smashing results. Sometimes, all that a film really needs at its center is a heart, and while it takes a bit to find it, much like the characters, Sisi & I has heart in spades.
In select theaters July 12th, 2024.
Available on VOD October 25th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official film Movement Sisi & I webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews, streaming
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