Written and directed by Marie Kreutzer, CORSAGE follows Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Krieps), one of the most magnetic royals of the 19th century, who was idolized for her beauty and renowned for inspiring fashion trends. But in 1877, ‘Sisi’ celebrates her 40th birthday and must fight to maintain her public image by lacing her corset ever tighter. While Elisabeth’s role has been reduced against her wishes to purely performative, her hunger for knowledge and zest for life makes her more and more restless in Vienna. She travels to England and Bavaria, visiting former lovers and old friends, seeking the excitement and purpose of her youth. With a future of strictly ceremonial duties laid out in front of her, Elisabeth rebels against the hyperbolized image of herself and comes up with a plan to protect her legacy.

For in-depth thoughts on Corsage, please see my colleague Devin McGrath-Conwell’s review from its theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Corsage debuts on Blu-Ray with a 1080p presentation in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio that brings this visually beautiful movie to life. One of the unique points of this feature is that it was actually shot on 35mm film, which allows so much more texture to be pulled from the frame. The natural grain resolves well without ever clumping or spiking in any abnormal ways. The transfer provides a stellar amount of detail and clarity, especially in distinct aspects of the environment, clothing and opulent production design.

Objects hold up pretty well in the shadowy environments and retain their depth with banding rarely showing up in any capacity. Black levels have a nice amount of depth which holds together nicely without crushing. The highlights of the movie are stable with no blooming or clipping. The movie itself has a deep, cool palette that stands out on screen with hues saturating the screen. No damage or digital noise was detected that would detract from this transfer. RLJE and IFC Films delivered a fine disc here.

Audio Quality

The film comes to Blu-Ray with an effective DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original languages which never leaves you wanting more. Surround channels get some robust activity during the exterior scenes in processions and when gathering around the dinner table. The movie fleshes out environmental sounds to make the locations feel more three dimensional. The low end adds some welcome texture that enhances the atmosphere. The dialogue and sound effects are balanced well with the lovely score where nothing gets lost. There is not a thing to complain about on the audio front. There are English, English SDH and French subtitles provided.

Special Features

Behind The Scenes of Corsage:

- The Corset: A two-minute discussion with star Vicky Krieps and director Marie Kreutzer in which they discuss the impact of using an actual corset during filming, what she learned from the experience and more.

- On Playing Empress Sisi: A 38-second piece in which the pair briefly discuss the figure at the center of the movie.

- The Mystery of Empress Sisi: A 33-second featurette in which they discuss the real-life mystery surrounding this woman.

Final Thoughts

Corsage is a really wicked and impactful drama which does not hold to strict conventions of period pieces, and it is all the better for it. Vicky Krieps is a marvel throughout in a performance which is nimble and fearless. While the film has so much it does right, the experience does suffer ever so slightly from some pacing issues which leaves you wanting certain developments to be a bit more lively. IFC Films and RLJE Entertainment have released a Blu-Ray featuring an excellent A/V presentation and only a couple brief special features. If you are down for a good primal scream born out of female rage (all wrapped up in a costume drama), then you should give this a shot. Recommended

Corsage is currently available to purchase on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: RLJE Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.