I just read Leya's post about Sissi, the Empress Elizabeth of Austria and I couldn't help thinking back to when I first saw those Romy Schneider movies and also fell in love with Sissi's story. That interest led me to look for books about her and in my shelves I can still find:
Brigitte Hamman - Elizabeth D'Autriche
Agustina Bessa Luis - A Corte do Norte
Catherine Clement - la Valse Inachevée
Nicole Avril - L'Impératrice
The movies were a guilty pleasure for a long time, recorded in VHS tapes they lasted for quite a few years. I'm feeling quite a bit of nostalgia just by looking at the DVDs and I'm wishing a new movie or mini series would be filmed. Sissi is such a tragic figure that she seems to me perfect heroine material, even if there is no happy ending...
The Hammann biography is one of the best, ever. But then, she's an extraoridinary authoress and everything she writes goes beyond the plain description of historical details. I adored the Sissi movies, though, to be honest, I have watched them so often I can't stand to see them anymore. The problem with those films is that most people consider them being "biographic" when when they are everything but. Not even Sissi, the appelation is correct LOL. But they do make a great evening entertainment during a cold winter night.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only book I've read by Hamman, is there any other you would recommend?
ReplyDeleteI have to confess I never watched the movies nor read anything about Sissi.
ReplyDeleteI watched one of the movies in tv very long time ago but I don't know which one. Sissi was an interesting person but I didn't read much about her also, only the most known aspects of her life. Curiously, I found out by accident the spot where she was murdered in Geneva just near the Lac Leman. I was kind of surprised to only see a tiny and very discreet little plaque marking the place...
ReplyDeleteIsn't movie magic grand?! ;) I think that's the appeal of the Sissi movies, you get the beautiful princess falling for the handsome prince and they live happily ever after and even with the MIL interferences. lol
ReplyDeleteI'm going to check out the Hammann biography.
Ana, Joan Haslip's biography "The Lonely Empress", is pretty good.
Thanks for the tip Leya, I'm going to check that one out.
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