Vicky Krieps is continuing her Cannes hot streak. One of her upcoming projects, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s “Hot Milk,” was acquired out of the Marché du Film; she’s starring in two Un Certain Regard features, Emily Atef’s “More Than Ever” and Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage”; and Variety has announced that North American rights to the latter film, an unconventional biopic about Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Krieps), have been picked up by IFC Films.
“Corsage” made its world premiere at Cannes, where it has drawn “unanimous praise,” according to the source. “It’s so far one of the most acclaimed films playing at the Cannes Film Festival and was circled by several other distributors.”
Known as Sissi, the Empress, who has been compared to Princess Diana, was born in 1837. As Duchess in Bavaria, she received a fairly normal upbringing, but her marriage as a teenager to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria thrust her into the vicious and restricting Habsburg court. Making matters even more complicated, Franz Joseph was originally betrothed to her sister. Sissi eventually came into her own as a ruler, and was instrumental in building the dual Austria-Hungary monarchy. She was assassinated in 1898 at the age of 60. The Empress’ story has previously been told on stage and screen, including the 1955 German film “Sissi.”
“Corsage” takes place in 1877, when the Empress is turning 40 and “fight[ing] to maintain her public image by lacing her corset tighter and tighter. While Elisabeth’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,” Variety synopsizes. “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, Elisabeth rebels against the hyperbolized image of herself and comes up with a plan to protect her legacy.”
Kreutzer wrote and directed the pic. She counts features “The Ground Beneath My Feet” and “The Fatherless” and series “Sendung ohne Namen” among her previous credits. She received an honorable mention for Best Debut Film at the Berlinale for “The Fatherless,” and nabbed Austrian Film Award nominations for directing (“The Ground Beneath My Feet,” “Gruber Is Leaving”) and screenwriting (“Gruber Is Leaving,” “The Fatherless”).
Krieps was nominated for a César this year for “Hold Me Tight,” and recently finished working on Pathé’s epic “Three Musketeers” adaptation. Her best-known credits include “Phantom Thread,” “Bergman Island,” and “Old.”
