Corsage is an 2022 historical drama film directed by Marie Kreutzer, set in 1877-1878.
It is about Elisabeth of Austria (played here by Vicky Krieps) in her middle age. Somewhat estranged from her husband Emperor Franz Joseph and her children, resigned to her loneliness, and frustrated with her public image, Elisabeth focuses on maintaining her good looks and indulges herself in inappropriate flirtations and amusements, all while wondering what she will leave behind.
The film costars Florian Teichtmeister as Franz Joseph, Katharina Lorenz as Marie Festetics, Jeanne Werner as Ida Ferenczy, and Manuel Rubey as Ludwig II of Bavaria. It debuted in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes 2022, ahead of theatrical releases in Europe and North America in the succeeding months.
Tropes:
- Anachronistic Soundtrack: The film is set in the 1870s, and its exploration of female ennui through a modern lens is helped by 20th and 21st century songs. Some are even rendered diegetically in period-typical styles, such as the 1960s number "As Tears Go By" sung by a harpist.
- Death of a Child: Franz and Elisabeth's oldest child, Sophie, died as an infant. Her death still haunts her parents 20 years later.
- Death Seeker: As her cousin Ludwig lampshades, Elisabeth spends most of the film in various moods with an apparent death wish. She's unhappy with her lot in life and her social set reducing her to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's pretty face. Finally she jumps off a boat off the coast of Italy, her final fate in this retelling unknown.
- Fake Faint: In one of the opening scenes Elisabeth fakes fainting to get out of a social event.
- Flipping the Bird: One piece of promotional art for the film shows Elisabeth, coiffed befitting of an empress, giving the audience the middle finger while looking straight at them. It reflects the film's themes of her trying to hold on to her public image.
- Important Haircut: After she starts taking heroin Elisabeth impulsively cuts her famous long brown locks and comments that she feels weightless.
- Incompatible Orientation: Elisabeth makes a move on her favorite cousin, Ludwig II of Bavaria, only for him to kindly reject her. She realizes the "rumors of him with the stableboys" are true.
- King Incognito: Empress Elisabeth dons a maid's dress and a veil to follow her husband's young mistress to the market.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Elisabeth pleasures herself in a bathtub after being spurned by Bay.
- Milestone Birthday Angst: The empress unhappily celebrates her 40th birthday at the beginning of the film, wistfully noting that one starts to fade at that age.
- Of Corset Hurts:
- Elisabeth is frequently seen getting tight-laced into corsets. Though painful, she does it to maintain her figure. Throughout the film the corset is a metaphor of the restrictions placed upon Elisabeth in her unhappy personal life.
- Late in the film Elisabeth asks her lady-in-waiting Marie to stand in for her at a social event. The corset emulating Elisabeth's figure is drawn so tight she has to leave in the middle and throw up.
- Proud Beauty: Elisabeth is a renowned beauty and goes to great pains to maintain this reputation. She spends a lot of time getting beautified by her ladies, restricting her food intake, and exercising. Even her almost-dalliance with Bay is spurred by vanity; he realizes that she just wants to feel beautiful.
- Snooty Sports: As in real life, Empress Elisabeth burns off energy with equestrian sports and fencing.
- Weight Woe: Elisabeth is shown to be bothered by rumors of her weight and rigorously tracks fluctuations.
