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.

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'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.

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.