Sisi

I saw this series not having expectations about it. With curiosity of a high school history teacher, hunting not the inaccuracy but interested by the manner of director to propose the portrait of Elisabeth of Wittelsbach.

Dissapointment is missing.

For many reasons, it is a correct historical series and Dominique Devenport is an inspired option for main character. It is just unfair to compare it with other adaptations. It is only a fair, surprising well nuanced series , not docu-drama, not documentary, seductive for costumes and locations but not reduced at them.

The cinematography has a great good point and the manner to tell the story is far to be bad. The target is large and one of precious virtues of Sisi remains the historical sketches, good kick to history books.. Jannick Schumann? Yes, he can be a problem. He has the sin, especially the sin, to not be the expeted Franz Joseph. But his work is interesting and the hopes about the second season are not so reduced.

So, just a correct series, nice for atmosphere and for the honest , fair effort to resurrect the air and flavors of a period.

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.

I'm sick of reading "it's historically inaccurate" in every review about historical drama's. This is not a documentary, it's just a show like any other.

I think the creators didn't want to retell a story that has already been told so many times. Maybe not everything that happened in this series is based on true events, but in my opinion that's what makes it interesting. It's new and refreshing and I'm here for it!

The series was visually very beautiful. It was well filmed and the shots were really nice. I'm not sure if the costumes were historically accurate, but they were beautiful for sure.

What I loved most, was Sisi's character developement. In the start she was this cheerful and happy person, but you could see how she felt less happy each episode. The prince's emotions were good portrayed as well. I could feel his sadness and anger by just looking at him.

The only thing that bothered me, which is propably the most important thing too, is the storyline. It just didn't have a good continuous storyline. I can't really explain what exactly is wrong with it, but it most certainly isn't perfect.

Overall it's actually pretty good. Yes, the storyline could've used some more work, but it was still very enjoyable.

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.

Got to admit that I wasn't expecting anything out of it, and yes this isn't for everyone because it's historical BUT the cinematography and the fact that the actress that plays Sisi were great!