What Germans like to watch for Christmas
I wasn’t sleeping. Just dreaming.
– Sissi
As Christmas is drawing nearer, I decided to tell you something about the all-time favourite Christmas movie of basically all German-speaking countries and probably also Hungary. I’m from Germany, so I know for a fact, that Sissi is very popular in Germany, especially during Christmas season. I can’t speak for the other German-speaking countries, but I guess it is the same there. Many of you might not even have heard about the Sissi movies, so let’s have a closer look at what I’m actually talking about…
The Sissi movies are an Austrian trilogy, based on the two-part Sissi novel by Marie Blank-Eismann, which was published in Stuttgart, Germany in 1952. The first movie was released in 1955, its successor The Young Empress in 1956 and the last one, Fateful Years of an Empress, in 1957. All movies were written and directed by Ernst Marischka and starred Romy Schneider als empress Sissi and Karlheinz Böhm as emperor Franz Joseph. The trilogy is among the most successful German-speaking movies of all time.
Ok, so we know the facts. But what about the actual plot?
Well, this is gonna take ages to describe, so I won’t go into detail here. As you probably guessed, the Sissi trilogy is historical and follows the life of young empress Elisabeth of Austria. It starts in 1853, when Elisabeth, called “Sissi”, by then only one of seven daughters to the duke of Bavaria, travels to Bad Ischl (Austria) with her family. There she meets the young emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, who is supposed to marry her sister Helene (called “Nené”). However, Franz only seems to have eyes for Sissi and she too falls in love with him. Oh, did I forget to mention that Franz and Sissi are actually cousins? Nevermind. Long story short: Franz marries Sissi and she becomes empress of Austria. Sounds wonderful, right? It’s not. From then on, Sissi is faced with loads of trouble, most of it ascribable to her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie. When Sissi’s first child is born, Sophie takes it away from her, as she thinks that Sissi is too young and doesn’t have the proper etiquette and strictness to raise her daughter on her own. When Sissi can’t take it any longer, she flees to Bavaria to her family and confesses to her father about Sophie’s tyranny. Franz Joseph rushes to get her back and a while later, Sissi is crowned Queen of the Hungarians in Budapest. Many more problems arise and to top it all off, Sissi is diagnosed with possibly fatal tuberculosis. Together with her mother Ludovika, Sissi travels to Madeira and Corfu to cure her illness and regain not only her physical, but also her long lost psychological strength. At last, Sissi recovers and returns to Franz Joseph. In the end, she is reunited with her daughter.
All pictures copyrighted by Erma-Film
How successful these movies were, is obvious when you look at the numbers: between 20 and 25 million people saw the movies in cinemas. Director Erik Marischka planned a fourth movie, but Romy Schneider wasn’t willing to participate in another one in her role as Sissi. Though the movies made her quite famous, she doesn’t seem all too happy about her being Sissi after all. In an interview a few years later, she said: “this will stick to me forever like pudding” (quoted from Wikipedia). I guess it’s like Daniel Radcliffe will forever just be Harry Potter. I can imagine it being a blessing and a curse at the same time.
There have been many adaptations of the Sissi theme since then. One of the best-known is probably the 2007 animated parody Lissi und der wilde Kaiser (“Lissi and the wild emperor”) by famous German director Michael “Bully” Herbig. In this movie, Lissi (who’s supposed to portray Sissi of course) is abducted by a yeti and not only Franz and his mother, but also the oafish exterminators Ignaz and Schwaiger rush to rescue her.
All pictures copyrighted by herbX Film
So, coming back to the actual Sissi movies. This is a post, in which I wanted to tell you about one of the most popular Christmas movies of us Germans. But uhm… it’s not actually a movie about Christmas, is it? Definitely not. Still, the Sissi trilogy is shown on German television during the Christmas holidays every year. It is indispensable for Germans (and like I said, probably for Austrians as well) to our “Christmas TV program”. Why though? The truth is… I have no clue at all. I tried to investigate this issue for you guys, but I came up with nothing. All I could find were tv program sites, stating the airing dates and times. So, now we’re all as smart as we were before. Thank you very much, Sarah!
Anyway, now you know the all-time Christmas classic on German television and that’s something, don’t you think? 😉 Of course there are many other “Christmas classics” on German TV, like Der kleine Lord or Die Feuerzangenbowle. But I wanted to tell you about Sissi, because… well… Sissi is just… Sissi… I guess.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I’m looking forward to your comments. Do you know the Sissi trilogy? Have you watched it?
I wish you all a very merry Christmas, a wonderful time with your loved ones and a great start into the new year! 🙂
sarahtalksfilm 
I’v never seen one of the Sissi movies. And I am German 😛
Mic drop!
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Watch them this year! It’s never too late 😂
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It’s not. But sometimes it’s soon… 😛
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