Marie Kreutzer directed Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister and Colin Morgan in this period drama exploring an imagined chapter in famous Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Elisabeth of Bavaria’s later life.

You know exactly what she is feeling but are never sure what she is thinking. Except when she flips the finger to a family banquet on exit. Excellent lead performance from Krieps with strong support all round. The imagined alternate history and anachronistic elements never seem fey or overdone. Or if it was about a completely fictional royal, the central story of repression and redundancy would still be compelling, believable. The modern spikiness of Krieps’ portrayal stops this from feeling like a mere pensioner’s special prestige piece, I wanted more of that in particular, but realise this might have limited it for the intended audience.

7

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