The Empress (German: Die Kaiserin) is a German historical fiction/romance series about a young Elisabeth of Austria, nicknamed "Sisi", played here by Devrim Lingnau.
Raised an unconventional and spirited duchess in Bavaria, Elisabeth falls in love with her sister Helene's planned fiance Franz Joseph, the young emperor of the Austrian empire. After Sisi and Franz marry, Sisi is thrust into the imperial court at Vienna. Though she proves popular, she must now reckon with the Habsburg dynasty's current unpopularity, the influence of her imperious mother-in-law/aunt Archduchess Sophie, and the ambitions of Franz' younger brother Maximilian.
A Netflix production, the show's first six episodes debuted on the platform in September 2022. A second season was announced to follow.
Tropes:
- Anachronism Stew: Despite being set in the 1850s, the show will occasionally drop some modern touches, such as Helene's midcentury bob with bangs, and Elisabeth's sunglasses (which would not have had any traction at all until the end of the 19th century).
- Arranged Marriage: As he tells his lover Louise, Franz is being betrothed to his cousin Helene to shore up the Austrian empire's claim to Bavaria. He has never met her and the two only have portraits and rumors of each other to work with. Indeed when they are due to meet Franz is taken with her sister instead.
- Backhanded Compliment: After Maximilian catches Sisi walking on the grass to observe a bird, he tells her that she's changed and has been 'sprung open'. She comments that he tends to make his compliments sound like insults.Maximilian: Happy to teach you.
Sisi: No, thank you. I prefer direct insults. - Becoming the Mask: Ava is accused of growing to enjoy her disguise as "Countess Leontine von Apafi" and becoming attached to the royals her revolutionary faction is trying to dispose of.
- Dance of Romance: Sisi and Franz have a dizzying waltz rehearsal that results in them spinning around and giggling with how delighted they are with each other. They sneak out of the lesson to canoodle.
- The Grand Hunt: Franz organizes a big hunt to receive the tsar's son and his wife. Sisi wants to go on it but is strongarmed into hanging out with the ladies instead.
- Einstein Hair: Johann Strauss, a composer regarded across Europe for his waltzes, has messy and uncombed hair that sticks up.
- Hanging Around: Franz Joseph has to attend a hanging of conspirators against the crown in the first episode.
- Headbutt of Love: After Sisi confides in Helene that she wishes she were more like Helene (as their mother also wished), Helene touches their foreheads and cups her younger sister's face.
- Historical Beauty Update: Helene. In real life, Elisabeth was actually the blonder sister - Helene, in fact, was much darker haired and had a fairly dark complexion, and was most definitely not considered at all attractive by the standards of the time. One of her aunts even described her as "cross-eyed and unhappily ugly". In this show she is considered to equal if not surpass Elisabeth in beauty.
- I Kiss Your Hand: Upon being reunited with Franz in the second episode Elisabeth leaps to kiss him. He stops her because they're in front of all the courtiers and chooses the more prudent hand kiss as a form of greeting.
- Insulting from Behind the Language Barrier: Maximilian insults his Italian girlfriend in German to Sisi, knowing that the girlfriend doesn't understand German.
- Intimate Hair Brushing: Sissi brushes her older sister Helene's hair and the two chat about the latter's upcoming engagement, showing that they're actually close despite their differences.
- Lady-In-Waiting: Several accomplished ladies from the Austrian empire's preeminent families are called to serve as the new Empress Elisabeth's court ladies. This position is exploited by Ava, who impersonates a countess and becomes one of Sisi's ladies to achieve revolutionary goals.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Franz is definitely Sophie's son, but the possibility that he is not the son of the Archduke Karl, from whose lineage his throne derives, but instead of the Prince of Vasa, is raised.
- My Beloved Smother: Though her son is ostensibly the emperor, it's well known that Archduchess Sophie calls the shots in the Habsburg dynasty. Maximilian tells Franz that his reputation in Italy is that their mother is the real ruler and Franz just cowers when the Prussians come around.
- Nice to the Waiter: To demonstrate her empathic nature, Duchess Sisi greets the servants in the morning and helps a cook pick up some dropped fruit with a smile.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: The unconventional lady Sisi wanders around the Ischl villa grounds barefoot, only to run into the emperor. He notices that she isn't wearing shoes, and she replies that she doesn't like them.
- Railing Kill: Realizing that Amalia has caught onto her impersonating the real countess Leontine, Ava attempts to handle the problem by pushing her off a high staircase.
- Royal Inbreeding: Emperor Franz Joseph is planned to marry his maternal first cousin Helene. He is taken with and marries her younger sister Elisabeth instead.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: The ladylike Helene gifts Franz a handkerchief she made and embroidered herself.
- Tomboy Princess: Sisi is a young duchess renowned for her beauty, but is also introduced running away from a betrothal she doesn't want on horseback. She is rebuked for getting into trouble all the time. She gets molded into a Spirited Young Lady later on as the plot becomes more about her discomfort with courtly etiquette and intrigue. Also lampshaded after she expresses a desire to hunt alongside her husband; the Grand Princess considers this tomboyishness her "peculiarity" as Empress.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: In the first episode, Princess Ludovika asks her younger daughter Sisi, mangled and dirty from the horseback detour she took to drive away a suitor, why she couldn't be more like her dutiful and ladylike older sister Helene.
- Universally Beloved Leader: The people of Vienna love their new empress Sisi. There are mobs outside the castle gates calling for her husband's head, but when Sisi goes to see them they all look her reverently and are charmed by her humility.
- Window Love: Just before their wedding Franz and Elisabeth align hands over the glass of her carriage, signifying their affection for each other.
- The Wise Prince: In contrast to his domineering mother, Franz Joseph is empathetic to the discontent of the people and advises his mother against warring with the Ottoman Empire because it will bring more suffering.
