Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #119. Frauke Finsterwalder’s Sisi & Ich

Sisi & I

Sisi became all the rage with Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage but another “Sisi” film was also in the works. Topically we’d love to see how this one measures ups but also expounds on the later years of Empress Elisabeth of Austria from the point of view of her lady-in-waiting, Irma Sztáray. Sandra Hüller, who toplined Frauke Finsterwalder’s first feature-length film Finsterworld (2013) is onboard here as well. Susanne Wolff takes on the Empress role. Principal photography took place in September of 2021 in locations in Bavaria, Vienna, Malta and Switzerland. The German filmmaker first got her start in docu film – apparently this second swim in fiction film was filmed in Super 16 mm film. Sisi and I also stars Susanne Wolff, Georg Friedrich, Stefan Kurt, Tom Rhys Harries, Markus Schleinzer, Sophie Hutter, Angela Winkler, Maresi Riegner, Sibylle Canonica and Johanna Wokalek are part of the supporting players. We’d be surprised if this was not part of the Golden Bear competition next month.

Gist: What would you say if you could suddenly work for the most famous and sought-after woman of your century? Travel the world with her and have the chance to maybe even become her best friend? All of this could be so beautiful. Wouldn’t you have fallen madly in love with her? What a disaster.

Release Date/Prediction: With a March domestic date in place, we imagine that this will receive a Berlinale blessing.