Mayerling

2011, 127 minutes

Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria is forced into a marriage of state with Princess Stéphanie of Belgium; Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich, the mistress of whom he is tiring, introduces him to the very young — but hardly inexperienced — Baroness Mary Vetsera who becomes his next mistress; they make a suicide pact. The Emperor, Franz Joseph, has a mistress, Katharina Schratt, whom the Empress Elisabeth officially acknowledges, giving her the post of "reader" — and giving a portrait of Schratt to the Emperor as an anniversary present; only his mother, the Archduchess Sophie objects. The Empress, known as "Sisi" since childhood (or "Sissi" as it is Anglicised), has a lover, the British Colonel "Bay" Middleton; only her son, Prince Rudolf, objects. Rudolf in turn has a former mistress, Larisch; a new mistress, Vetsera; and a "regular" mistress, that is to say, a commoner, Mitzi Caspar, variously described as an actress and as a high class prostitute; to all of whom the Emperor objects. Mitzi is a police informer and conducting an affair at the same time with the chief of police — which leaves Bratfisch, Rudolf's loyal private cab driver and a popular entertainer -- apparently at a "notorious tavern". The ballet is framed with scenes of the Baroness Vetsera's uncles bearing her corpse to her final resting place, Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

---