Hardly any other historical personality enjoys such enduring popularity as Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, known as Sisi. TECHBOOK lists all series and films about the former empress – and where you can stream them.
What do actresses Lil Dagover, Romy Schneider, Dominique Devenport, Christiana Capotondi and Ava Gardner have in common? All have already embodied the late “Sisi”, Empress of Austria-Hungary. Hardly any historical figure appears so often in films and series, hardly anyone is so well known – especially not a woman. Another name soon joined the ranks of the actresses just mentioned, some of whom were well-known: Devrim Lingnau. Because the streaming giant Netflix is also planning its own mini-series about the former Austrian empress. So that you don’t lose track of all the Sisis, TECHBOOK has once collected all the film adaptations.
Sisi – a figure in the course of time
Older Movies
The first known Sisi film was made in the days of silent films; at that time the actress Carla Nielsen played the leading role. Even the niece of the empress, Marie Louise von Larisch-Wallersee, was involved in the development. The most famous image in the film is Elisabeth on her deathbed, which for years was mistakenly passed off as the original image of Sisi. 1931 saw the release of “Elisabeth of Austria” with Lil Dagover in the title role. The well-known stage and film actress mimed Sisi again in the 1956 film “Kronprinz Rudolf’s Last Love”. The singspiel “The King Steps Out” hit completely new tones. The famous opera singer Grace Moore performed at that time as a young empress.
Sisi’s childhood in Bavaria is illuminated in the relatively unknown film “Princess Sissi” from 1938. “Ludwig II – Glanz und Ende eines Königes” (1955), on the other hand, shows her friendly relationship with Ludwig II of Bavaria, which comes to a tragic end. Another film was released that same year, in which Sisi, who was not yet married to Franz Josef, only played a supporting role.
“Sissi” with Romy Schneider
The image of the empress in this country was decisively shaped by the film trilogy by Ernst Marischka. Romy Schneider, who was not even of age at the time, had her international breakthrough with the role of “Sissi”. Due to the three films that appeared between 1955 and 1957, stubborn legends about the life and above all the love story between Franz Josef and Sisi persist to this day.
A fourth film by Marischka was originally planned. However, the project failed because Romy Schneider preferred to devote herself to other roles and firmly opposed a return. In 1973, however, she slipped into Empress Elisabeth’s costume one last time for the film “Ludwig II.” Sisi is already much more mature and distanced in this title; the representation is praised as much more realistic.
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More adaptations
Many more films followed up until the 1990s, although they tended to focus more on Sisi’s son Rudolph. The heir to the Austrian throne died in Mayerling Castle in 1889 together with the young Baroness Mary Vetsera, most likely by suicide. The circumstances of his death and his relationship with Mary Vetsera, which have not yet been fully clarified to this day, make the two a tragic pair of lovers who failed due to the strict regulations of the court.
From the 1990s there was an increasingly satirical debate about the historical personality of the Empress of Austria. “Sisi and the Emperor’s Kiss” is about an exaggeration of the Viennese court ceremonial and the marriage plans that Archduchess Sophie has for her son Franz Josef. The animated film by Michael Bully Herbig, “Lissi and the Wild Emperor”, is also well known in this country.
Current films and series
Since the 2020s, there has been a real boom around Sisi again. In 2021, the RTL production “Sisi” was created with Dominique Devenport in the title role. Jannik Schümann plays her husband Franz Josef. The Netflix series “The Empress” is also scheduled to appear in 2022, as is the movie “Corsage” with Vicky Krieps as Elisabeth of Austria. “Sisi and I” with Susanne Wolff as Sisi, which is also scheduled to hit cinemas in 2022, is currently being planned.
In addition to the film adaptations, Sisi has also been the subject of numerous documentaries. The musical “Elisabeth” by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, which premiered in Vienna in 1992, is also very well known.
All Sisi films and series at a glance
Why are we so fascinated by Sisi?
Even more than 120 years after Elisabeth’s death, the fascination for her person is unbroken. There are various theories as to why. An important point seems to be, among other things, the attractiveness of the empress. The first photographs were also taken during her lifetime, which certainly helped her popularity, especially since Sisi paid close attention to how she was portrayed in public. Incidentally, her obsession with beauty is also the subject of more recent film and series productions, while it plays no role in the Romy Schneider films, for example.
Also noteworthy is the career that Sisi took at court. Even if the circumstances in the film adaptations are often romantically exaggerated, her emancipation from Archduchess Sophie and the court protocol probably actually took place. Of course, her tragic death at the hands of the assassin Luigi Lucheni is also part of her exciting life story. The most tragic thing about it – according to his own statement, he wasn’t after the empress at all. Instead, he wanted to assassinate Prince Philippe d’Orléans.
The love story between Elisabeth and the Emperor is another piece of the puzzle in the Sisi myth. The Emperor of Austria was originally supposed to marry Elisabeth’s sister, Helene of Bavaria. At that time, a love marriage was absolutely unusual in aristocratic circles and therefore all the more remarkable. A substance that still inspires dreams today.