TV review
“Sisi” on RTL +
Less kitsch, more sex: The new “Sisi” is modern – and Franz Joseph is cold and brutal
Dominique Devenport and Jannik Schümann play Empress and Emperor of Austria in “Sisi”
© RTL / Story House Pictures / Louis-Zeno Kuhn
If you have Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm in your head with “Sisi”, you have to rethink quickly. In the new RTL + series, Dominique Devenport and Jannik Schümann give the imperial couple a new coat of paint.
The first look the viewer gets on Duchess Elisabeth “Sisi” in Bavaria couldn’t be further from Romy Schneider’s version from the 1950s.
“Sisi”: New series about the popular empress
Sisi (played by Dominique Devenport) is lying in her bed, pleasing herself, her hands under the big blanket. Then the door to her room swings open and the young woman is caught by her sister Helene, nicknamed Néné.
The sisters are closely related, keeping their little secret in silence when they eat with the family. But their relationship should soon be shaken. Because Néné is supposed to marry her cousin, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph (Jannik Schümann). But when he arrived in Vienna, he only had eyes for his younger sister, Sisi. The quick-tempered rebel, who wears black against her mother’s wishes, has done it directly to the monarch. And the interest is mutual.
Emperor Franz Joseph is cold and quick-tempered
Before long, the Emperor Sisi had to defend Sisi in the forest against Hungarian insurgents who wanted to take revenge on his reign. Shots are fired, Sisi’s dress rips and the two ride from the crime scene together. Sex, violence, bare skin – scenes that would have seemed completely out of place in the classic film “Sissi”. But in the new interpretation of history, not only is the future empress herself more modern and frivolous.
The ruler Franz Joseph played by Hamburg’s Jannik Schümann couldn’t be further from Böhm’s portrayal of the emperor. He is quick-tempered, cold-hearted, partly scheming and has a weakness for prostitutes. A piece of advice that his mother (played by Désirée Nosbusch) gave him in episode two: “Feelings are an incorruptible sign of weakness.”
Darker and less fairytale
The role becomes a bit more interesting and less kitschy because of the darker sides, but at times one wonders why the women – especially the clever Sisi – found Franz Joseph to be fond of at all. Sisi’s own father calls his son-in-law a “little boy” and a “sick monarch” and warns against locking his daughter in a gold cage. A vague premonition of what’s to come? It will be exciting to see how the figure of Franz Joseph develops in the six episodes of “Sisi”.
Devenport embodies the role of Sisi convincingly. It is also less fairytale and girlish than Romy Schneider’s version, but also fresher and more modern as a result. As a maid she chooses Fanny, one of Franz Joseph’s prostitutes, who is supposed to teach her how to make the emperor happy. By now, at the latest, it should be clear to all fans of the classic film that they are not being served a new edition of Schneider’s and Böhm’s picture-book love story.
Worth seeing new edition
That should disappoint some fans who hoped to experience a bit of old 1950s magic during the Christmas season. The new edition of the well-known story is worth seeing and refreshing, albeit darker. And it’s good that she tells the same story but gives the characters a new coat of paint. No couple of actors should and could not have copied what Romy Schneider and Karlheinz Böhm managed to do back then.
And so the RTL + series is more reminiscent of “Bridgerton” than of its original template. With “Bridgerton” Netflix had a huge success last winter. Within a very short time, the historical drama became one of the streaming service’s most-watched in-house productions. The undisguised sex scenes in particular caused a sensation. The surprise success sweetened many viewers: the Christmas days last year – it is quite possible that “Sisi” will follow suit.
The first season “Sisi” can be seen from December 12th on RTL +.