MovieChat Forums > Ludwig (1973) Discussion > She looks different here

She looks different here


Anyone noticed that she looks old for the role, I mean she was to reprise her role. But, I always thought she looks like the innocent one in the Sissi trilogy. Anyone???

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I take it that you mean Romy Schneider. And yes I do think she looked a little old for the role.

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She didn't look too old for the role IMO.
At the time that Elizabeth started buddying up with Ludwig she was in her 30s. She'd had all her children by that time and witnessed the deterioration of her unhappy marriage. Her husband openly cheated on her and infected her with some lovely STD so her innocence would have been pretty much shattered. I think Romy Schneider did a very good job at making a more realistic portrayal of Elizabeth then she ever did in any of the three Sissi movies.

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You mean Franz Joseph actually ill-treated her? Did he ever done that to her?

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He cheated on her basically from the start of their marriage. One of the reasons she did a runner to Corfu was to recuperate from venereal disease he had infected her with. Most of his life Franz Joseph had a mistress in the background and that made Elizabeth unhappy. She didn't want him for herself, but she didn't want to share either.

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"He cheated on her basically from the start of their marriage.." To paraphrase Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the King!!" (as he then samples some beautiful female flesh)

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But, I thought they love each other?

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One of his longest affairs was with the actress Katharina Schratt.

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But, I thought that Sissi actually tolerated with their relationship.

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Franz Joseph certainly loved his wife, but she was very difficult to live with. From what I know of Sissi it doesn't seem likely she cared much about anyone but herself.

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Oh yeah, because she was in vain right?

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Yes, she was vain. She was also an anorexic and certainly a narcissist. In this day and age she probably would have been diagnosed as bipolar.

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Just Rudolph. Then, after what happened at Mayerling (which occurs AFTER the events shown in this movie) Sisy suffered a mental breakdown of some sort and seemed to never have recovered.

Ironically Romy Schneider suffered the same misfortune in real life (death of her son), and never mentally recovered from that either.

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But why just Rudolf? Was he close to her???

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That's crazy, but why after his death? She suffered???

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First of all, her travel led her to Madeira to recuperate from a constant cough, depression and boredom, she visited Corfu on the way back. Cheated on her from the start? Based on what accounts? He adored her. Gave in to every whim of hers.

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When they meet in the movie, Elisabeth is supposed to be 26. (1864) At the most 27. She had not given birth to her last child, Marie Valerie, yet. The STD infection scandal involved her son Rudolf and his wife Stephanie, not Elisabeth. There is no historical proof for it in Elisabeth's case. Her husband adored her till the end. Given that she was averse to sex she probably did not mind him taking his needs elsewhere, however the only woman the Emperor ever truly loved, was Elisabeth.

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Possibly Elisabeth was the only woman he ever truly loved. However, it seems that love was not returned by her.

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