Sisi

Some of this is historical fabrication, however, real history recalls that Sisi was indeed a fantastic horse rider, she did lift weights and stick with a fitness regime, climb mountains with her 7 brothers and sisters and that she did in fact, champion the poor and passionately embraced life in a fantastic and empowered free-thinking way. She was, in real life, in a word, exceptional and strikingly so for her time.

This retelling is vibrant and mostly beautifully acted. But series three must have been directed by someone else as it's lacklustre, lengthy, more of a yelling, tantrum throwing emperor than one will ever need, and some historical great gaffs. And way too many sex scenes... yeah, we get it, people have sex but this seems to leverage the fact and, although they are very pretty people romping, it nonetheless gets a bit tired.

It appears that in real life Sisi did suffer mental health issues related to the absurdity of being a monarch and most likely because of her husband's constant tirades, therefore she sought freedom - for herself and others. I enjoyed this show very much through season one and two, although one of the subplots left me scratching my head and It's beautiful to look at, but it manages to keep some very important core elements of this brave, amazing woman true to history despite its faults.

I saw this already the third time. It is Not a Romy Schneider remake. It is a completly new fiction series. Yes it is fiction, But Shows more complex charakters- more like the real Sisi was. You can feel how many passion was put into this.

I definetly Love it. As a kid I loved the Romy Schneider films. You have to be open minded to really enjoy this Show- But then I promise you will:)

I have to say I enjoyed the first episode quite a lot and was disappointed when the series began to lose its way in the labyrinth of ill-fitting desiner clothes, mediocre rock music, sloppy plot twists and completely improper comedy. A few drone shots of Vienna don't give the series any Viennese flavour, which instead feels kinda very post-Soviet. It struggles between being authentic and modernized, probably to attract a 21st century young adult viewer, and in doing so tends to lose its way. Moments of beautiful camerawork save induvidual scenes but are not enough to cover the somewhat empty narrative and the moments that reak of anachronisms. It almost feels as if there were two competing units at work - one that strives to make a downtonabbeyesque detailed trip into the history, and another that strives to make a rock opera in the vein of The Phantom that really doesn't give a damn about historical etiquette, accuracy or plausability of the events. Many overly dramatic but emotionally empty and disconnected scenes bear witness of an insecure and disfunctional team of writers and script doctors.

Often a nice fairy tale and a handsomely mounted tale, if you can look past the very preposterous twists, Franz Josef's waxed bodybuilder boobs and the endless array of haute couture dresses with zippers. And no, they didn't eat breakfast, ride or roll in the hay always in glittering, much-revealing, sex-oozing evening gowns.

This show probably has very little to so with the actual lives of the emperor and empress. If the characters were names to fictional persons, people might have given higher ratings. As the story is entertaining, the decor and costumes are beautiful and the acting is good. So if you are looking for more insight in the imperial couple watch a documetary, if you want an entertaining costume drama, this is a good watch.

Season One: 5.5/10

Themes: Costume Drama, History, Royalty, Court, Marriage, Nineteenth Century, War, Feminism & German.

Review: I'm not sure how I feel about this series. The main emotion I felt while watching this was frustration or indignation. I think the series harmed itself by naming it Sisi: everything about this plot and the characters were different from what I was hoping or expecting them to be. The love story was also not a love story at all: Franz and Sisi were absolutely horrible together and I still do not know if either of them even knew the other. Franz treated Sisi like dirt and Sisi let him walk all over her. Gone was the strong and beloved woman we associate with Sisi, and instead we had this pathetic girl, desperate to get the attention of a man unworthy of her love. I did think Sisi grew into herself more in the later episodes, especially with how she got involved with the politics, but I still wasn't a fan. Overall, I did enjoy watching the series quite a bit, but it simply wasn't all that great. It could be fun from time to time, but it was ultimately very flawed.

Least favourite character: Franz Jozef.