You might think Corsage is a high school rom com about prom, with a sweet ending filled with swooning and romance. Well apparently in Austria corsages are outfit allegories for the suppressive political dramas. Led by the incredible Vicky Krieps, Corsage looks at Empress Elizabeth of Austria through a new lens, one that Anne Boleyn and Princess Diana know all too well.
Elizabeth (Krieps) was the wife of Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Corsage takes place from 1877 to 1878, as Elizabeth is about to turn 40. The movie then documents her life at the top of the Austro Hungarian political class. Despite prodigious riches, and two well mannered children Rudolf (Aaron Friesz) and Valerie (Rosa Hajjaj), Elizabeth feels the decline coming in things she values in her life. To distract herself from despair, she tries to find some life’s purpose with her handmaids Countess Marie Festetics (Katharina Lorenz) and favorie Ida Ferenczy (Jeanne Werner) through various travels, hobbies, and volunteer efforts.
Corsage is a hate-letter to fashion. Specifically, rich women’s fashion during the more strict patriarchal societies that completely judge women based on their appearance. Director Marie Kreutzer makes you feel each pull of the corset that poor Elizabeth and her underlings have to endure just to maintain appearances. The clothes make a perfect allegory for Elizabeth’s plight. Outwardly, they make her look beautiful, thin, and desirable (what men want), but inwardly, they are little prisons all over her body, holding her in and keeping her from expressing herself. Yes, Elizabeth finds ways to rebel here and there, but every little piece of rebellion is met with controversy and resistance to reign her back in, leaving her no choice but to flee by any means necessary. And as those choices fall by the wayside, and the corsets get tighter as Elizabeth ages, she’s left with only permanent, dark options to flee, creating a fog of melancholy around the Queen.
All of these allegories work because of the great Vicky Krieps, who proved she was awesome when she went toe to toe with Daniel Day Lewis in Phantom Thread. While Kreutzer’s story gets repetitive over time, Krieps performance does not, as she finds new layers to Queen Elizabeth. Here we have a woman who’s conflated her worth with her beauty, and becomes more and more exasperated as the big 4-0 nears. When forced into a corner, usually by her husband or the political machine, Krieps has Elizabeth lash out at everyone in calculated ways, even people who don’t deserve it like the Countess. Too bad, because all she really wants is a way to express herself. The movie wonderfully changes tone when Elizabeth gets time away from politics to pursue travel, a new hobby, or a new crusade, as those suppressed parts of her personality burst through those double knotted corsets, if only briefly. The ending might shock Elizabeth purists, but it totally fits Kreutzer’s movie seamlessly: a beautiful capper from a great Krieps performance.
Corsage should have been called corset. My, the horrible burden women were forced to put themselves through to make others happy! I hope all women out there just do you, boo. Wait that’s mansplaining right? Crap. Nevermind. Just ignore my advice, except maybe to see Vicky Krieps be awesome in Austrian royalty.