“Corsage” is about when she turned 40, which was a hard time for Elisabeth. The series showed her struggles as she got used to her new life.
In “Corsage,” we meet an older Elisabeth who has mostly given up on her duties and is trying to deal with her sadness by going where her heart wants. People remember her as a rebel regarding her duties as a queen. She spent her whole life looking for a deeper reason for being alive.
The corset is what the German word “Corsage” means, hinting at how strictly the Empress was expected to live and also a reference to the tight corsets she wore to keep her “inhumanly” thin waist. “Corsage,” written and directed by Marie Kreutzer, is a modern reimagining of the life of Empress Elisabeth. It gives her the agency and freedom she didn’t have at the time.
Corsage Recap
In the first scene, we see Elisabeth can’t stop getting her waist measured daily. She doesn’t trust the new assistant, so she calls her trusted lady-in-waiting to tighten the corset. Her first act of defiance was when she pretended to pass out at the Museum of Art History when people started talking about her health and weight.
“Corsage” also shows how much Sissi loved her cousin Ludwig forever. In her 40s, she and her husband, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, had trouble getting along because they had different ideas and goals. Their relationship goes beyond friendship and love, which was hard for people around them to understand.
Even though Elisabeth wanted to be a free bird, her husband expected her to be a perfect Empress. Despite having a lot, she wanted freedom or happiness, but she was mostly sad. She didn’t like being just pretty to look at. She knew she was just the crown’s representative, not the one who made the decisions. At first, only her husband told her not to do things that could hurt her reputation. Later, her son Rudolf also told her what he thought.
Empress Elisabeth was often the subject of rumours, either because she didn’t like royal life or because her personal life was so interesting. She was considered one of the most beautiful women of the 1800s. The tabloids were always talking about her body and long hair. As Sissi got older, it got harder and harder to accept how her body and face were changing.
It was tough when people around her made comments about her weight. She went to great lengths to keep her youthful glow because she wanted to keep it. Elisabeth liked to stay away from the palace and often went back to Bavaria, where she grew up. Even though she didn’t care much about the strict rules Empress had to follow, her sister did.
Franz fell in love with Elisabeth, but Helene was thought to be the best match for him. We see tension between the sisters when Elisabeth finds out that Helene pushed Rudolf to talk to her about how much freedom she has.
Elisabeth liked to ride and wanted her daughter, Valerie, to know how to be free. Even though her daughter thought her mother’s actions were strange and risky. Valerie liked living like a queen and couldn’t understand why her mother wanted freedom so severely.
Elisabeth had always felt sorry for people with mental illnesses and spent a lot of time going to the mental asylum. “Corsage” is about how Elisabeth feels alone, sad, and like she has no reason to live. Elisabeth’s 40th birthday was almost terrible because people talked about her weight and appearance. She worried that her beauty would fade over time, making her less critical.
“Corsage” is a must-see because of Vicky Krieps’s unbeatable performance, the powerful lighting and cinematography, and Marie Kreutzer’s new take on the story.
Corsage Ending Explain
As the distance between Elisabeth and Franz grew, she looked to the outside world for love and pleasure. People talked about her relationship with Count Gyula Andrassy in public, and her son Rudolf brought it up in passing at a dinner party. Elisabeth liked spending time with her cousin Ludwig, who was just as strange as she was.
Ludwig and Elisabeth had accomplished a lot by their young age. This made it easier for them to understand each other’s problems and look for the small joys in life. In the movie, Elisabeth’s cousin stops her from going after Ludwig. Even though Elisabeth wanted her cousin to touch her to make her feel better, he did not want their relationship to be sexual.
Rudolf was upset when he discovered that his mother’s relationship with her riding instructor, Bay, could cause people to talk about her in a mean way. He could relate to his mother because he sometimes felt out of place in court, but he also cared about her reputation. Elisabeth didn’t care about the rumours, but it broke her heart when her son questioned her personal choice.
The weight of her title followed her everywhere she went, and even though she spent most of her life travelling, she could not escape the expectations of being an Empress.
Elisabeth may be obsessed with her weight and have an eating disorder because she doesn’t control other parts of her life. She didn’t have much of a say in political matters. When she wanted to talk to her husband, she couldn’t go into his room, and the only place she had absolute power was in her room with her ladies-in-waiting.
So, keeping a tiny waist, which many people thought was almost cruel, gave her a sense of purpose because she could see how controlling what she ate affected her body. Elisabeth couldn’t accept her age, which was apparent when she asked an artist to make a copy of her face from a previous painting. She wanted to stay the beautiful young Elisabeth that everyone liked. When she talked about losing her first child, Sophie, she said they had a nice picture of her at least.
She usually eats beef stew or two orange slices, which shows her eating disorder. She weighs herself and eats a cream cake before she leaves on her last journey. The elegant portraits of young people were her way of leaving a beautiful picture behind, even though she was tired of her life.
Aside from her two dogs, who were always with her and made her smile, Elisabeth liked being with Lotti, who was her favourite lady-in-waiting. The movie looked at their relationship, which was full of respect and worry. When Lotti told Elisabeth that a count had asked her to marry him, Elisabeth quickly told her not to accept. She couldn’t lose Lotti’s company because Lotti was the only person who loved her for who she was.
At first, it was hard for Elisabeth to accept that her husband was having an affair with Anna Nohowski, who was only 18. She was so immersed in her sadness that she couldn’t see much else. Even though it’s clear that Elisabeth doesn’t care much about the women around her because she always mixes up one assistant with another.
She felt insecure because Anna had her youth, which she was slowly losing. Later, she came to terms with their relationship and made a formal agreement with her husband, giving her control over his affair. Elisabeth can do her final act of rebellion in “Corsage” by cutting off her hair. She broke away from all expectations by cutting off her long curls, a sign of beauty. She was finally freed from her weight and the strict beauty standards. Elisabeth was able to be carefree because of this.
Valerie gave her mother, a picture she had drawn before she went to Italy. She said that she loved how her mother behaved on the birthday of the Emperor—with poise and grace. Elisabeth sent a body double to the event that day, which was sad.
She wasn’t even close to being the perfect mother her daughter wanted her to be and realising that made her sad. Away from the cramped walls of the palace, Elisabeth felt at home on the open sea. While her lady-in-waiting played the role of the Empress, she didn’t have to do anything. The jump into the sea can be seen as the final step on her path to freedom or as a chance to rethink how she died.
Instead of being killed, the story “The Corsage” ends with Elisabeth diving into the unknown and away from the men controlling her. She was free, and in the end, she was given a choice about what would happen to her. “Corsage” uses modern music to create a current version of the story. This gives Elisabeth the freedom and space to give the middle finger as she leaves a dinner party.
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