The Empress (Netflix series, 2022)
The Empress is a good-looking series, a cross between Bridgerton and The Crown, in which the life story of the Austrian Empress Sisi is retold for the umpteenth time.
Elisabeth von Wittelsbach, originally from Bavaria, became an icon through the 1955 feature film Sissi, which turned lead actress Romy Schneider into a global star.
The film was followed by various sequels and her life story as a modern woman ahead of her time continued to appeal to the imagination, most recently in the rock-solid arthouse film Corsage by Marie Kreuzer.
In that film, carried by the fantastic actress Vickie Krieps (Phantom Thread), the emphasis is on Sisi's later years as a headstrong woman. In The Empress we go back to the beginning, in this case the middle of the eighteenth century.
The young Sisi (Devrim Lingnau) is a tomboy, her demure sister Helene is much more suited to a marriage with Franz Joseph (Phillip Froissant) who needs a marriage and a preferable male heir to the throne to secure the throne.
But Franz is stubborn and falls for Sisi, who has a mind of her own and always speaks the truth. The things that make Franz fall in love with her will cause discord later, but you better check out Corsage for that.
This first six-part season of The Empress limits itself to Elisabeth's introduction to the Habsburg court. The relationship with her mother-in-law causes the necessary problems and the court is naturally bursting with intrigue.
Visually it is all tastefully done, with lots of modernist traits, but at times it also feels a bit too smooth. A series that falls somewhere between (a lot of) Bridgerton and (a little less) The Crown will undoubtedly please a large audience. But if you want to look further, do check out Corsage.