SABAN/CINÉ-GROUPE
French Canada-France-Germany, 1997-1998
If you ever wonder what the seven hells could ever lead a pre-teen Spanish middle-class girl to become interested and passionate about such an obscure historical topic as the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 (or why Roderich and Elizaveta are my APH OTP), the answer is this heart-wrenching and thrilling historical series with a myth arc that keeps on the dramatic pace until the well-earned happy ending.
Meet Elisabeth, AKA Sissi, a Bavarian noble who happens to be a tomboy with an iron will.
One of my childhood heroines. She happened to look and act like me, so I identified with her and was always excited to follow her around!
One day, the Archdukes of Austria visit the region, and Sissi becomes more than just friends with them...
This is Francis Joseph, heir to the throne, who will become
her sweetheart and finally her fiancé and husband.
Charles, the younger brother, is there mostly for comic relief and getting friendzoned.
At least he is loyal.
Their mum, however... Kaiserin Sophia is constantly opposing the plans of the "Bavarian shrew",
whom she will never accept for a daughter-in-law (for Sissi's family is liberal and she is too dynamic)
Helene "Nene" was here no longer Sissi's older sister, but the court-born and court-bred daughter of an Austrian general, surnamed von Grossberg. Still she was a feminine proper lady who knew her social standing (the Sansa to Sissi's Arya) and wondered what ever Francis Joseph saw in that shrew.
It served her right to be paired with and marry Fritz the liniment seller, with whom she was in cahoots to usurp the Austrian throne!
The main bad guy is the old fellow most to the left here, Chancellor Klemens von Metternich... eh...
Zottornich. They changed his surname a little and turned him from well-intentioned rightish statesman who ordered purges of separatist liberals... to despotic evil chancellor with a tinge for genocide.
A bit like what TV-only Thronies view Tywin Lannister versus the real thing (for those who have read his backstory).
I fell for Colonel Andrássy Gyula as soon as I saw him.
This dashing freedom fighter kept my thoughts wandering at class.
It was for his sake that I began to listen to Kárpátia...
Finding out that he survived the Revolution,
and that Sissi, when crowned, cheated on her kaiser with him,
made my over-a-decade-older self feel elated.
Though the heart of Andrássy ezredes was already taken up by this young person,
acrobat and countess Ferenczy Ida.
I mean, I felt happy for her. Even though I dreamt of being Sissi and stealing a kiss from her drága.
Ida wouldn't feel the least jealous, would she?
Neither would she have been when he flirted with Kaiserin Erzsébet.
What if they ever had a ménage à trois?
I was hooked by the whole story, like I would be later on with A Song of Ice and Fire. Love, comedy, idyls, adventures, courtly intrigue, epic battles, fight for freedom (the Hungarian 1848 Revolution was one of the story's most exciting aspects, and the climax took place during it)... All a thrill-seeking and beauty-loving young person could ever wish for!
Google "princess sissi" on YouTube, and you will surely be able to watch more than one episode in English, German, or maybe another language. A warmly recommended series.
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