#Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

[wardrobeoftime]

The Sissi Trilogy + Costumes

Ludovika, The Duchess in Bavaria's white & purple dress in Sissi - The Young Empress (1956) & Sissi - Fateful Years of an Empress (1957).

// requested by @thatmawe

[greengableslover]

“Look at that sea, girls - all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”

Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

ATONEMENT (2007)

MR. MALCOLM’S LIST (2022)

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019)

SANDITON (2019 - 2023)

ANNE WITH AN E (2017 - 2019)

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995)

LITTLE WOMEN (2019)

SISSI - THE FATEFUL YEARS OF AN EMPRESS (1957)

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1995)

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (1985)

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Sissi — Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957) [Sissi — Fateful Years of an Empress]

This was a good one! I was worried that it would end with Elisabeth's assassination and that I would have trouble writing a review in light of a certain unprecedented event which completely threw me off my groove, but it didnt, so that was good i guess

The plot was pretty all over the place, it starts with Elisabeth hanging out in Hungary with Gyula Andrássy and asking him to invite Count Batthyani (who swore to never give the imperial family the time of day because the emperor gave the order to execute his father) to his house so that she can talk to him on neutral ground and make peace with him. And she does! Kind of? Idk, she starts having some weird pains so she returns to Vienna pretty much immediately after that to have a doctor check up on her. Turns out that she has some kind of lung disease, oh nooooo, the doctor advises her to go to Madeira, both because she needs a change of air to help with her disease but also because she's contagious and should be away from Franz Joseph and her daughter. In Madeira, she spends the first weeks being depressed and not getting any better but then Ludovika comes by to cheer her up and get her moving again and they travel a bit and Elisabeth ends up making a full recovery. When Franz Joseph hears about this, he obviously wants to go to her as quickly as possible, he wants to meet her in Venice but his advisors are like "You need a political reason to go to Venice because shits been going and all of italy hates us and if you go there just for personal reasons, something bad might happen", so they decide to hold an opera gala with a big reception in Milan and they invite a bunch of italian nobles. But uh-oh, the italian nobles dont like austria so they all passive-agressively send their servants over in their stead and then to add insult to injury, the orchestra and singers start performing some opera-song about freedom and all the servants in the audience join in. But Elisabeth claps anyway, either showing that their attempt to insult just slid right off her or that she's supporting them, Im not really sure. At the reception, she and Franz Joseph passive-aggressively receive all the servants as though theyre the actual nobility, I dont know how this is helping them politically. But whatever, later on they get on a boat and drive (? whats the word you use for boats) to a church to meet the pope, but there are no adoring citizens cheering for them on their way, its a complete ghost town and the few people that are there just glare at them, so thats really humiliating. But then they arrive at the church and Elisabeth's daughter runs up to greet her after all these months/maybe years and all the people standing next to the church cheer and the pope loves her so its all good.

So that was a pretty underwhelming finale, both to the trilogy and just this film as a standalone. Like, the previous films both ended on these big victories ignore the fact that the wedding did not feel like a victory when I saw it that felt like they mattered and had been built up, but I think the troubles with Italy only got brought up like 25 minutes before the end so I found it hard to care about all that.

But idk, I still liked it overall, although writing out a summary of the plot really made me realize how messy it is. Honestly, I find it kinda hard to describe what exactly I even liked about this film specifically that isnt just all the stuff I liked about the previous ones (the acting, the sets, the costuming etc). I think Ive just gotten to a point where Im attached enough to (this version of) Elisabeth that Im pretty much fine with just watching her do whatever

I mean, I guess I liked that they softened Sophie for this one, I mean she's still strict with that everything-for-the-dynasty mindset but shes not actively causing problems with Elisabeth so that was kinda nice.

Actually, that reminds me of a scene that I really liked, it might be favorite in the film (although it does have some serious competition that I'll tell you about later). So, when Elisabeth comes back to Vienna after being in Hungary and she gets exhamined by the doctor, he doesnt actually tell her whats going on because its a really serious lung disease and he thinks she might not survive until the next year, but he does tell Sophie. Elisabeth finds out about this when she's allowed to get out of bed for an hour and decides to surprise Franz Joseph in his office at the exact moment Sophie decided to tell him about her condition, so she overhears everything including Sophie being like "yknow, since the empress is probably gonna die pretty soon and she hasnt produced an heir, we might wanna start looking into other women" which is so fucked up. But anyway, Franz Joseph sends her away and once he's alone he buries his head in his hands and starts crying, and he lets out such wonderfully pathetic little sobs it made me giggle and kick my feet. sighs dreamily. Men Suffering <3 (I mean that in a pervert way, not a terf way)

Then Elisabeth goes up to him and comforts him (shes using a different, hidden door than the one Sophie left through) and I liked that too, he doesnt hear her so he doesnt notice her approaching until she's already right next to him and gently puts a hand on his head, and it makes him kinda freeze up for a moment before he wipes away his tears and looks up to see that its Elisabeth, and hes still shocked for a moment and asks her how much she heard and she's like "I think Ive heard everything I had to hear" and then they hug and oughhhhhhh its a good scene. 10/10

Now, that other scene that I really like is one I like for how fucking insane it is. Its at the very start of the film, Elisabeth, Gyula and a bunch of his guys are doing a horserace and after being in the lead for a while, Elisabeth and Gyula lose the track and they basically just decide to give up and wander around together instead of joining back with the others. They walk and talk about how much they love hungary until they stumble upon a Romani camp where she hears a woman whos being beaten up by her husband cry for help. She walks up to them, yells at him and pushes him pretty hard and I think the husband slaps her in retaliation but Im not entirely sure. She definitely hits him with her riding crop and then the woman pours a bucket of water over, at which point Gyula finally intervenes and goes "HEY this is the queen of hungary". The woman and her husband both profusely apologize while Elisabeth just kinda laughs it off and walks away and as she's walking away, the husband starts beating the woman again.

Honestly, I dont think my description of that scene truly conveys how insane actually watching it was, it happens so suddenly and goes by so quickly, I literally yelped when the woman poured the bucket of water on her, a true roller coaster of emotion. That being said, as I was writing that down I realized that I felt weird saying that my favorite scene in this film is the one making a joke out of domestic violence, so I officially declare the other scene my favorite

And yeah, that's pretty much it for this one. It's a pretty flawed film but I liked it and I had a pretty good time watching it, I actually didnt feel any of that dread while watching (I mean, I was a little anxious because of the assassination-thing but I forgot about that pretty quickly). If I had to rank this trilogy from worst to best, the order would be: first film, third film, second film

[dynamofilms]

Sissi – Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin/Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress (1957)

5/10

[ornellamutis]

Romy Schneider as Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin / Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957) dir. by Ernst Marischka.

[natalja1210]

[sala66]

Romy Schneider en “El Destino de Sissi” (Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin), 1957

[dolcesostenuto]

Romy Schneider in a pastel mint dress in Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

[scarytheory]

2021 IN FILM

63) Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin, Ernst Marischka, Austria, 1957)

[royal-diaries-podcast]

Sissi was viewed by 20 to 25 million people in cinemas. It is one of the most successful German-language movies. The movie was followed by The Young Empress in 1956 and Fateful Years of an Empress in 1957. In 1962, a condensed version of the trilogy was released in English under the title Forever My Love. The trilogy is a popular Christmas television special, and is shown on channels in German-speaking countries, Hungary and Italy. The Empress' date of birth on Christmas Eve 1837 adds to the appeal of the film as a Christmas special.

The success of the movie marked Empress Elisabeth's entrance to popular culture which made the historical figure even more legendary. The popularity of the films attracted tourists to places which were associated with the Empress, specifically those in Austria.

[wardrobeoftime]

The Sissi Trilogy + Costumes

Ludovika, The Duchess in Bavaria's blue dress in Sissi - Fateful Years of an Empress (1957).

// requested by @thatmawe

[recycledmoviecostumes]

This Victorian gown was used twice in the Sissi series. It was seen first in the first 1955 film Sissi, where it was worn by Vilma Degischer as Archduchess Sophie. In 1957 it was spotted on an extra as an Italian noble woman in Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress.

Costume Credit: Martina, Redrosecut, Sarah

E-mail Submissions: submissions@recycledmoviecostumes.com

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[peachykeenmovies]

Sissi - Fateful Years of an Empress (1957)

[historical-beauty-lily]

Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957) dir. Ernst Marischka

[kosemsultanim]

Get to Know Me Meme: 11/30 Female Characters

♛ Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi Trilogy)

[natalja1210]

Sissi edit (2)