Because of her tomboyish ways, Schneider is forbidden to visit the court, so she spends the vacation frolicking in the mountains, where she meets Bohm without revealing her identity. She accompanies her mother (Schneider's real life mother, Magda Schneider) and older sister, Helene (Uta Franz), to a resort town where the latter will be engaged to the young Emperor Franz Joseph (Karlheinz Böhm), a relationship engineered by the emperor's mother, Archduchess Sophie (Vilma Degischer). Schneider stars as Elisabeth, nicknamed "Sissi," the second of seven children of Duke Max of Bavaria (Gustav Knuth). Although it's a decided white washing of history, the film was a huge hit with European audiences, particularly in Germany and Austria, where it was seen as a means of rehabilitating national identities after World War II. Her restlessness and discomfort resulted in seeking refuge in travel.Romy Schneider became an international star at the age of 17 when she starred as Austria's Empress Elisabeth in this and two other films. For the rest of her life, Sisi suffered from anorexia and depression, maintained a rigorous exercise regimen and wrote dark poetry. The codes and strictures of Viennese court life repressed the young empress’ spirit. In 1854, at the age of 16, she married Emperor Franz Joseph I, becoming Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. Schneider came to loathe the role, claiming, "Sissi sticks to me like porridge (Haferbrei)."Įlisabeth, nicknamed Sisi, was one of the most distinguished royals-celebrities of the 19th century. In 2007, the films were released as The Sissi Collection with English subtitles. The three films, newly restored, are shown every Christmas on Austrian, German, Dutch, and French television. Any further exploration of the topic would have been at odds with the accepted image of the loving wife, devoted mother, and benevolent empress. The trilogy was the first to explicitly depict the romantic myth of Sissi, and ends abruptly with her determination to live a private life. Schneider's characterization of Elisabeth as a young woman is the first time the "young" empress is seen on screen. In early dramatizations, Elisabeth appears as peripheral to her husband and son, and so is always shown as a mature character. This version was released in North America in 1962. Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957) (Sissi - Fateful Years of an Empress)įorever My Love is a condensed version, with the three films edited down into one feature and dubbed in English. Sissi - die junge Kaiserin (1956) (Sissi - The Young Empress) In the German-speaking world, Elisabeth's name is often associated with a trilogy of romantic films about her life directed by Ernst Marischka which starred a teenage Romy Schneider: Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress of Austria at 44 years. While traveling in Geneva in 1898, she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, which were already legendary during her life. Named Achilleion, after Homer's tragic hero Achilles, the palace featured an elaborate Greek mythological motif and served as a refuge. In 1890, she had a palace built on the Greek Island of Corfu that she visited often. She withdrew from court duties and traveled widely, unaccompanied by her family. The death of her only son and his mistress Mary Vetsera, in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867. The birth of a male heir, Rudolf, improved her standing at court, but her health suffered under the strain, and she would often visit Hungary for its more relaxed environment. Early in the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who took over the rearing of Elisabeth's daughters, one of whom, Sophie, died in infancy. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was unprepared and which she found uncongenial. Nicknamed "Sisi", she enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of 16. 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, and many other titles by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I.Įlisabeth was born into the royal Bavarian house of Wittelsbach.
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