This is How Movies Should Be Made

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

emotion. great actors. tragic love story. and few sketches of political context. nothing more. it is easy to criticize it if you ignores the purpose. and the purpose is simple - to show a beautiful film , soft, pink, full of romanticism, touching like each soap opera, dramatic for wake up noble tears and emotions from the public, generous in recreate the atmosphere. costumes, jewels, the right couple - Deneuve and Shariff, impressive Ava Gardner and right James Mason as imperial couple. short, a tragic fairy tale. and it is strange to expect more. because it is not a documentary. maybe a good opportunity for comparisons ( Ava Garden and Romy Schneider in the skin of Elisabeth). a seductive romantic perspective about the fate of Rudolph of Habsburg.

History is so full of questions - what if such and such occurred, or if so and so had lived and not died, or if the weather had not been so bad on the date in question. There are all over the place, and Franklin Roosevelt dismissed this as "iffy" history. But people have hopes, dreams, and imaginations. Sometimes these run away with them.On January 30, 1889 Crown Prince Rudolf Von Hapsburg of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in his hunting lodge at Mayerling with his mistress Baroness Marie Vetsera. Rudolf was married to Stephanie, sister of King Leopold II of Belgium. They had a daughter, but were unable to have other children - such as a male child (Austria had a male only rule about its Emperors since the death of Maria Theresa, a co-ruler with her husband and later her son in the 18th Century). Rudolf therefore did not care about how his open affair with the Baroness affected his despised wife. However, the Vetseras were nouveau rich minor aristocracy, and it displeased the Emperor Franz Josef and the Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi"). The Emperor and his Prime Minister, Count Taafe, also wanted Rudolf to be more active in pursuing his regular duties at court and in the empire.Rudolf was considered more liberal than the Emperor by many people. He may have been approached about taking the leadership of a separation movement from Hungary as potential King, but if he did nothing came of it.That January day a shot rang out in the middle of the night. Some equerries ran to Rudolf's room but he answered the door and said nothing was wrong. Then, about six hours later, a second shot rang out. This time Rudolf was found with the top of his head blown off. Marie was dead from a shot in the skull too, but she was on her bed. Mayerling (it helps that the scene of the tragedy sounds poetic) has been the subject of several films and television shows and many books. This writer uses the name as his nom-de-plume on another website. There is a fascination with that tragedy - one can see it as that of two young people who died rather than give each other up due to a demanding father. One can see it as the end of the hopes of liberalism in the old Austro-Hungarian Emprire. One even has a sense of the richness of the royal families of Europe in 1889 by the setting in that lodge. It is open to so many interpretations or feelings.The 1936 film with Danielle Darrieux and Charles Boyer is the better version, but this 1968 version with Catherine Deneuve and Omar Sharif is actually quite good. It takes the view that Rudolf was a potential reformer and liberal, and that the reactionaries spurred on the events that led to the deaths. Franz Josef (James Mason) is shown hand-in-glove with the reactionaries (even screaming about Rudolf's friendliness with Jews), and not sympathetic about the need his son might have for Maria's companionship (given the really unlikeable Stephanie). Rudolf tries to make a deal - as an inspector general for the army checking out army weaponry and maneuvers. But nobody pays attention to him. The result is a total collapse of spirit leading to his suicide pact.He does try to escape with Maria. Bertie, Prince of Wales (James Robertson Justice) is visiting - can Rudolf and Maria flee to England for diplomatic immunity? But Bertie knows the drill - when you are finished enjoying yourself go back home to the wife and mother (Alexandra and Victoria). He also knows that the brouhaha of giving shelter to Rudolf and his mistress would not sit well with Lord Salisbury's government, or the government of Germany (Austria's ally) under Otto Von Bismarck.So the film ends with that final suicide, although to enhance the romance the dying Rudolf grabs the hand of his dead lover as a last snub at his father.Was it like that? My romantic side wishes it was. But the evidence shows Rudolf was a weakling, who played with liberalism but really did not believe in it. Franz Josef (a hard working monarch, with his own side-friendship with actress Katherine Schratt) always mourned his wayward son, but he was ashamed of Rudolf's cowardice - what always bothered the old emperor was that Rudolf took six hours to turn his pistol on himself after shooting Maria. He could not make up his mind of doing the honorable thing (completing the suicide pact) or fleeing. Rudolf was a coward to the end.

Reading about the Crown Prince character in THE ILLUSIONIST, I discovered he was based on a real-life individual who became the basis for not one but two movie versions, both called MAYERLING. This revelation immediately brought back memories of this lushly filmed love story from 1968, a richly detailed costume drama starring Omar "Dr. Zhivago" Sharif and the beautiful but incredibly icy Catherine Deneuve. The story ends in horrible tragedy, which is also based on real events. Clearly, the filmmakers of this 1968 version of the tale were trying to recreate the huge success of David Lean's 1965 masterpiece "Dr. Zhivago." In this, they failed utterly. You may shed tears by the end, but you also will discover a film that lacks the heart of the film it attempted to emulate. It is easy to state that Deneuve was the wrong choice to play the love interest, and it is a no-brainer to see that director Terence Young, best known for early James Bond films, will never be mistaken for David Lean. It's like comparing Steven Spielberg to Stanley Kubrick. It can't be done.

This movie is perhaps one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen-both literally and figuratively! I've never seen a more beautifully photographed movie. The use of location settings and outdoor photography is second to none. The costumes and settings show that the producers obviously didn't skimp on quality. They're breathtaking and almost rate their own review. Aesthetically I can't remember the last time I saw such a beautiful film. Dramatically it drags a bit at times but overall is a very compelling tale, made all the more poignant because it is based on events that actually took place. Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve are remarkable as the doomed lovers. Their final scene together, as they talk while she's falling asleep is magnificent. It's obvious why Deneuve has had such a love affair with the camera over the years. She's absolutely flawlessly photographed(no other woman with the exception of the late Sharon Tate even comes close). You can see why a man would be driven to give up an empire for her. As an added bonus the great Ava Gardner came out of semi-retirement to play Sharif's mother and gives this movie an added touch of class(not that it needed any more). If you're a fan of costume dramas or doomed love stories then this movie is for you. Quite simply it combines the best elements of both genres. A treat.