Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957) ****

Austrian filmmaker Ernst Marischka completes his Sissi trilogy of films with Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress, original title Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin. The winning combination of star Romy Schneider as the titular heroine, and Marischka’s lavish production style, returns for the 1957 film in another enjoyable outing.

When the film opens, the young Empress Sissi is staying at the Royal Palace of Gödöllő in Hungary with her little daughter Sophie and her courtiers. Here she feels that she can be herself, liberated from the court ceremonial of the Schönbrunn Palace in Wien (Vienna), and reminiscent of the freedom she had at home at Schloss Possenhofen in Bayern (Bavaria). She spends her days in the company of Count Andrassy (Walther Reyer), riding in the woods. However, at a ball in his castle, during which Sissi plays the role of diplomat, smoothing relations between the Emperor and Hungarian nobles still bitter over their past conflict with Austria, Count Andrassy declares his undying love for her.

Shocked and dismayed, Sissi feels she has no choice but to break off her relationship with him and return to Vienna and to her husband Emperor Franz Joseph (Karlheinz Böhm).

Soon, however, Sissi falls very ill and her physician, Dr. Seeburger (Hans Siegler) diagnoses her ailment as tuberculosis. The doctor doesn't think Sissi will survive the winter, but suggests that a change of climate might help. After several months of convalescence on the Portuguese island of Madeira Sissi is deeply depressed and her tuberculosis is even worse. [This is not surprising since Madeira is 600 miles southwest of Lisbon, Portugal in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, with an average annual temperature of 68F and fairly high humidity. This is not someplace you would send someone to recuperate from tuberculosis.]

Sissi’s mother, Duchess Ludovika in Bavaria (played by Romy Schneider’s real-life mother Magda Schneider), then decides to go to Madeira to help Sissi recapture the joy of life. After a short time, mother and daughter decide to go to Greece to see the ruins of Athens, after which Sissi establishes a residence on the Greek island of Corfu in the Adriatic Sea.

When Dr. Seeburger examines Sissy at Corfu several months later, he finds her fully recovered. The Austrian ministers suggest that Emperor Franz Joseph should combine his reunion with Sissy with an official visit to Italy, particularly Lombardy-Venetia. Austria is much reviled there, but needs a good relationship with this country. The ministers think that Sissi can bring forth a miraculous change of sentiments in Lombardy-Venetia, just as she did in Hungary. Sissi is successful and the film ends on that high note.

Returning once again to provide comic relief is Major Böckl (Josef Meinrad) who in the first film thought Sissi was a nihilist or anarchist bent on assassinating the Emperor. Later he became her loyal servant and personal guard, both in the palace and on her travels, displaying a deep affection for Sissi. In this third film he romances a local girl in each place Sissi visits – first Hungary, then Madeira and finally Corfu – in turn learning Hungarian, Portuguese and Greek. However, each time Sissi would move on to her next destination the major would have to start a new romance.

Most of the cast from the first two Sissi films return. Emperor Franz Joseph plays a lesser role this time. Sissi’s romantic relationship with him, such an important element in the first two films, gives way to motherhood and time with her young daughter, Sophie.

This film feels like the third installment of a four-film series. In other words, it does not feel as though it should be the final installment and, in fact, Marischka had planned for at least one more Sissi feature that never happened. Romy Schneider refused to come back for another movie despite the urging of her mother, actress Magda Schneider, who played her mother in the trilogy.

Romy Schneider is still dazzling as Sissi in Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress, and the production values are better than ever, however the focus on international diplomacy and Sissi’s illness change the film’s feeling and the Sissi formula loses some of its luster. Romy Schneider might have had good instincts when she refused to go back for a fourth film.

Labels: drama, history, romance, Romy Schneider
IMDb 66/100
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Madeira Islands

Royal Palace of Gödöllő in Hungary
Empress Elisabeth of Austria