Foreign Film Series: Corsage
Set in the 1870s, Corsage depicts Elisabeth Empress of Austria at 40, struggling to maintain her flawless image and that of the empire she is expected to incarnate. Elisabeth’s aura of lofty grace depends on her rigorous control of her body, which involves the corsetry of the title being laced mercilessly tight, as well as workouts with exercise rings in her private gym. Enduring a politely loveless marriage to the emperor, Franz Joseph, Sissi yearns for affection, or libidinous release, but it evades her. One candidate is an English riding master, whom she visits in Northamptonshire; significantly, although Corsage does not specify this, Elisabeth’s actual historical visit was to none other than the Spencers at Althorp. Elisabeth is most relaxed when spending time with her famously troubled relation Ludwig of Bavaria, but he discreetly rejects her less cousinly attentions, prompting her to ask, in the film’s drollest line: “So the rumours about the stable boys are true?”