Film review: Corsage may be a period piece but it tells a timeless tale

In Corsage Elisabeth simultaneously plays along even as she secretly rebels. Pictures: MK2 Films.

★★★★☆

Christmas is the great festival of hope and renewal, but not for the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps), who turns 40 on Christmas Eve 1877 as Corsage (15A) begins. Once renowned as a beauty whose vivacious youth mirrored the empire’s vitality, Elisabeth now finds herself considered old and irrelevant by her husband, the Emperor Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister). Determined not to be marginalised in a society where form trumps substance, Elisabeth embarks on a dangerously radical diet she believes is necessary to rejuvenate her appearance. A period piece it may be, but Marie Kreutzer’s fictional account of a year in Elisabeth’s life is a timeless tale of women who are browbeaten into adapting to a particular image in order to be taken seriously.