Corsage

I became fascinated with Empress Elisabeth when I visited the Sisi Museum in the Hofburg Palace on a trip to Austria so I have been looking forward to Corsage for months.  I finally had the chance to see it last night at the Broadway and I absolutely loved it!  I loved everything about it!  The narrative follows a year in the life of Empress Elisabeth (Vicky Krieps) beginning with her 40th birthday.  She is wild and restless but is constrained by her husband Emperor Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), who refuses to give her a voice in politics, her children Rudolf (Aaron Friesz) and Valerie (Rosa Hajjaj), who implore her to behave in a more dignified manner, her duties, which she finds tedious, and her image, which is becoming harder and harder to maintain.  She is also literally constrained by corsets (the title Corsage is in reference to the German word for corset) as her ladies-in-waiting pull the laces tighter and tighter.  She attempts to rebel by fleeing the palace every chance she gets, spending hours riding and fencing (which are considered unseemly for a woman), flirting with her riding instructor (Colin Morgan) and her cousin King Ludwig II (Manuel Rubey), finding ways to avoid her duties (there is a hilarious scene where she fakes a swoon), and, finally, cutting her hair because it takes hours to braid every day.  She finds a kind of freedom in the final scene, which is fictionalized (as is much of the narrative) but incredibly powerful.  Krieps is absolutely brilliant in the role because her performance never becomes a caricature and she embodies so many emotions even when she is completely still.  I loved the use of anachronistic details, such as contemporary music (I especially enjoyed the cover of "Help Me Make It Through The Night"), because they suggest that Elisabeth is ahead of her time and I loved the opulent interiors inside buildings that look to be crumbling and abandoned because Elisabeth is trapped in a society that is soon coming to an end.  This is very atmospheric and episodic so it might not be for everyone but I was mesmerized and I highly recommend it!

Note:  I also recommend The Empress on Netflix which has just been renewed for a second season.