Even without a missing "s", audiences will probably know immediately what this movie "Sisi" is about, namely the young Elizabeth, the character that defined Romy Schneider's career. The director here is Sisi and the script comes from a bunch of Italian writers. Another Italian is lead actress Cristiana Capotondi who plays the title character here. It is a television production from 2009, so 7 years old by now and it was aired in 2 parts of 100 minutes each, which means that this film (/ these films) runs for considerable longer than 3 hours: But I guess they needed that time as the original trilogy makes it past the 4.5-hour mark and this one here is of course a remake that takes us from the first meeting between Sisi and Franz Joseph over them becoming a married couple and parents (of a sick child) and finally ends with Sissi creating peace between Austrians and Hungarians.
So much for the plot. I guess everybody who considers seeing this not too known film here has probably seen the old films at least once, so no need to go into detail. And that reference to the old films is crucial. Schneider and Marischka get away with a lot that seems out-dated and over-the-top by today's standards, but this new film here has no excuse for certain moments and scenes I have to say. Also the film lacks (like the old) one characters that have shades really. You could probably make an argument for Franz Joseph, but the way Sissi is depicted, she is such a perfect saint and woman of everybody's dreams (I am not talking about her looks in this case) that her perfection is really utterly cringeworthy. The exact opposite is Martina Gedeck's character who has no shades either and is depicted as pure evil and her dedication to the crown is not really working as an excuse to justify her character's actions.
I would call this film (these two parts) gooey schmaltz and drama that rarely felt authentic. I wish they could have tried to make a more relevant films in terms of today's film and not just basically make a copy in terms of story, emotions and characters. All this has been done and has been done better for the most part. The best thing here is probably that Capotondi was a decent choice for the main part, even if she is not the greatest actress either. But she does not need to be to make most of her character work, also because the other actors are not exactly convincing either. Rott was pretty bad occasionally and very forgettable, while Gedeck, a great actress in fact, was entirely wasted with stereotypical material. This was not a good watch and only the people I mentioned in the title may want to check it out. Everybody else skip it.
So much for the plot. I guess everybody who considers seeing this not too known film here has probably seen the old films at least once, so no need to go into detail. And that reference to the old films is crucial. Schneider and Marischka get away with a lot that seems out-dated and over-the-top by today's standards, but this new film here has no excuse for certain moments and scenes I have to say. Also the film lacks (like the old) one characters that have shades really. You could probably make an argument for Franz Joseph, but the way Sissi is depicted, she is such a perfect saint and woman of everybody's dreams (I am not talking about her looks in this case) that her perfection is really utterly cringeworthy. The exact opposite is Martina Gedeck's character who has no shades either and is depicted as pure evil and her dedication to the crown is not really working as an excuse to justify her character's actions.
I would call this film (these two parts) gooey schmaltz and drama that rarely felt authentic. I wish they could have tried to make a more relevant films in terms of today's film and not just basically make a copy in terms of story, emotions and characters. All this has been done and has been done better for the most part. The best thing here is probably that Capotondi was a decent choice for the main part, even if she is not the greatest actress either. But she does not need to be to make most of her character work, also because the other actors are not exactly convincing either. Rott was pretty bad occasionally and very forgettable, while Gedeck, a great actress in fact, was entirely wasted with stereotypical material. This was not a good watch and only the people I mentioned in the title may want to check it out. Everybody else skip it.