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An icon across continental Europe though barely known in the UK, the life of Sisi, or Sissi – Empress Elisabeth of Austria to you – has been dramatised often, including in a famous trilogy of films depicting her youth that made Romy Schneider a star. In Corsage, the role is played by Vicky Krieps, and the perspective we’re given is of a woman whose societal purpose it is to bear children and look beautiful reaching the age of 40, a milestone that focuses her mind. It’s a film made by women about the particular effect that ageing has on women under patriarchy, but is it complex and insightful or predictable and obvious?
With José Arroyo of First Impressions and Michael Glass of Writing About Film.