Empress Elizabeth of Austria is idolized for her beauty and renowned for inspiring fashion trends. But in 1877, ‘Sissi’ celebrates her 40th birthday and must fight to maintain her public image by lacing her corset tighter and tighter. While Elizabeth’s role has been reduced against her wishes to purely performative, her hunger for knowledge and zest for life makes her more and more restless in Vienna. She travels to England and Bavaria, visiting former lovers and old friends, seeking the excitement and purpose of her youth. With a future of strictly ceremonial duties laid out in front of her, Elizabeth rebels against the hyperbolized image of herself and comes up with a plan to protect her legacy.

Oscar Shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards
Cannes Film Festival Winner – Best Performance, Un Certain Regard (Vicky Krieps)
European Film Awards Winner – Best European Actress (Vicky Krieps)
London Film Festival Winner – Best Film
Best International Film Nominee – Film Independent Spirit Awards and Gotham Awards
Top 10 Film of 2022 – Variety, AP, RogerEbert.com, Screen Daily

Marie Kreutzer is an Austrian filmmaker who studied at Vienna Film Academy with Walter Wippersberg. Her films have screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival and Corsage at 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and New York Film Festival.  On making Corsage, “The idea came from Vicky Krieps, herself, who asked me a few years ago if we wanted to make a film about Sissi. We did another film together, and she asked me after and I only laughed. I thought it was a joke, because, as I said, it’s just a souvenir shop cliché in Austria. But it stuck with me and at some point I started to read about her and I said to myself, “Let’s see if there is something in the material that interests me.””

“Writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s boldly restive biopic imagines Empress Elisabeth of Austria as a deeply restless soul chafing against the social limitations of her day.”~ Keith Watson, Slant Magazine

“It’s riveting stuff, aided by Vicky Krieps’s bold and brilliant turn.”~ Anna Smith, Time Out

Drama, World Cinema, Biopic

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