Summary
Austria in the 1880s. The crown prince Rudolph is a constant thorn in the side of
his father, the Emperor Franz Joseph. He allies himself with political agitators
in the hope of reforming his country and spends more time with his mistresses than he
does with his wife Stephanie. The Emperor’s patience is exhausted when his son starts
to pursue a very public affair with a young noble woman, Maria Vetsera. Under
pressure, Rudolph agrees to spend just one more month with Maria...
Review
This somewhat lacklustre re-make of a classic 1930s French film achieved some success
when it was released in 1968, mainly on the strength of its impressive cast list.
Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve both manage to turn in a creditable performance, although
their talents are largely wasted on what is really little more than a limp love story
dressed up as a serious historical drama.
The film was directed by Terence Young, perhaps best known for his James Bond films (which
are considered amongst the best in that series). Young is a competent director but
few of his films show much in the way of artistic merit or imagination. Mayerling
is probably the clearest indication of this. Visually, the film is quite stunning,
offering a convincing recreation of the period in which it is set. Most of the cast
put in some solid performances (James Robertson Justice’s Prince of Wales being particularly
memorable), and composer Francis Lai delivers one of his most beautiful scores.
But the film is, overall, strangely empty, lacking passion, humanity and charm.
At over two hours, it is too long to sustain the audience’s interest, and some of the
plot (such as Rudolph’s dabbling in politics) appears laboured and almost irrelevant to
the film’s narrative thrust.
The film has also been condemned for its lack of historical authenticity. The real
Archduke Rudolph was far from being the romantic hero he is portrayed in this film, although
it is true that the circumstances surrounding his death are still shrouded in mystery.
This is film’s least important fault: fictitious or not, the film comes nowhere near to
capturing the full dramatic potential of a painfully tragic story.
© James Travers 2003
|
