Customer Reviews

The Crown Prince

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The story of the final decades of the Habsburg empire is a haunting one, the 600 year old dynasty rushing to an ignominious end amidst family strife, mental illness and personal unhappiness. Empress Elizabeth ("Sisi") and crown prince Rudolf are among its more intriguing characters, and the story of the latter's suicide has great film potential. But that isn't realized here. On the contrary, one feels the production team has been grappling with stuff way too dark and complex for both their abilities and intentions. Rudolf is portrayed as a slick playboy who suffers from sudden bursts of interest in revolutionary politics and then, inexplicably, starts shooting morphine, and kills himself. Only the barest inkling is conveyed of his deeply troubled relationship with his mother, whom he worshipped, only to be ignored by her in favour of his younger sister. We do not get any sense of his sharp intellect and significant scientific efforts, nor of the mechanisms that slowly turned his quiet melancholia into self-destructive despair. Even his political leanings are explained only in the most superficial manner (the prince walking in on a scene of Dickensian squalor in a Prague slum); in actual fact it was a volatile mix of revenge on his forbidding father and a remarkably astute, almost prophetic assessment of the empire's dire prospects. Nor do we get a real feeling for the callous, arrogant egotist Rudolf most certainly also was. This was a man who kept a `register of conquests', meticulously detailing characteristics of each lady, with entries in red ink denoting virgins. In the film, much is made of the silver cigarette box he gives Helene Vetsera; in fact he handed those out as a souvenir to his each and every mistress (the fact that the inscription varied very precisely in accord with the social rank of the lady also makes short work of Rudolf's supposed democratic leanings).

This production is insuperably saccharine, ponderously slow and plagued by amateurish acting (and badly glued moustaches to match). Don't be fooled by the gratuitous moment of nudity barely 15 minutes in: this is nothing but a very expensive episode of Beverly Hills 90210. The involvement of historian Brigitte Hamann must have been a token affair, for you can't even trust all the factual details to be right. Opportunities to show the real life drama are missed at every turn. The fateful conversation in which the emperor tells his son he doesn't think him fit to succeed actually took place, but wasn't nearly as quiet or civilized a meeting as shown here. In fact, Rudolf's shouting could be heard in the anteroom, and Franz Joseph was so overcome with emotion that he fell into a swoon. The makers have romanticized even the double suicide itself. The servants outside hear two gunshots in quick succession, as if the act were carried out as intended. In actual fact, after shooting Mary, Rudolf fell prone to second thoughts, and it was not until after a night of heavy drinking that he eventually shot himself the next morning. One of his letters of goodbye intimated that he no longer wanted to, but was left with no choice, as he had now become a murderer.

Silliness is not entirely avoided. Rudolf and Prussian crown prince Wilhelm are constantly visiting brothels, apparently for the sole purpose of engaging in heavy-handed politico-historical debate. Sandra Ceccarelli exerts herself to look like a tormented Elizabeth but merely succeeds in making you think she needs to visit a dentist. To make sure the viewer knows what is going on, characters are explaining the obvious to each other over and over again with great insistence.

How much better could this have been if the makers had refrained from sugercoating the real story. How much more alive would it have been had something of Rudolf's relation with his sisters been shown, and his infatuation with `mad' King Ludwig II of Bavaria. How much more might have been conveyed of the stifling ceremony of the Viennese court - even the 50s "Sisi"-movies succeed in getting that right. How much more of the weirdness of it all might have been captured had something of the bizarre aftermath been included (Mary's corpse was whisked away from Mayerling in a coach, in the dead of night, all dressed up and tied to a broomstick to make her sit upright and seem alive to overly curious passers-by. Two nights after Rudolf's burial superstitious Elizabeth descended into the Kapuzinergruft and tried to conjure up the spirit of her dead son. When at another séance she was told that he dwelled in a place `worse than hell', she was devastated.)

None of that. All we get is eye-candy. Most of the film was shot at the appropriate historical locations, and the costume department has visibly outdone itself to squander its share of the 11mln euros available. Enough to feast the eye on. The casting director has made sure this goes for the lead characters too; Jeremy Irons look-alike Max von Thun certainly is a lot easier on the eye than the real Rudolf was, and in order not to disguise the fact he has to make do without the beard that Rudolf always wore (he needed it to camouflage the nervous twitching of his face). In all, this is a missed opportunity and frankly a waste of your time.

A very, very, good mini-series that captures the 'Belle Epoque' period prior to World War I and of its most interesting figures, Crown Prince Rudolph of Habsburg. The very handsome and very talented Max Von Thun portrays with great skill the frustrating life of Prince Rudolph and his battles against the politically oppressive regime of his father, Emperor Franz Josef and Austrian Prime Minister Taaffee. Klaus Maria Brandauer's portrayal of the stodgy and ultra-conservative Emperpor Franz Josef is historically very accurate and Sandra Ceccarelli is visually capativating as the ill-fated Empress Elizabeth (Sisi). The only bit of miscasting is the role of Maria Vetsera by blonde-beauty Vittoria Puccini. While Puccini's characterization reflects Vestera's life-long infatuation with Rudolph that lead her to her tragic end at Mayerling, Puccini does not have dark and mysterious features that so captivated the actual Prince Rudolph. Omar Shariff, who played Crown Prince Rudolph in the 1968 film 'Mayerling', heads an excellent supporting cast that makes this two-part series a "crown jewel".

While I don't share MartinP's low accessment of Crown Prince Rudolph's character--perhaps we've read different historical accounts--he is dead-on in saying that this production is mere eye candy. With a large budget, access to historical sites and lavish costumes, this could have been an insightful and moving account of Rudolph's tragic life. Instead, it feels like a Danielle Steel costume epic that sort of echoes historical events. One is forced to wonder how much of the story is made up for the sake of drama: there is an unbelievable "Prince and the Pauper" episode in which Rudolph goes out among the common folk in disguise and falls in love with the young daughter of a Jewish baker--where in heaven's name did that come from? And they stage Rudolph's and Mary's meeting as a Cinderella-at-the-ball fantasy, when in fact Mary's campaign to conquer Rudolph's heart was a carefully planned and orchestrated series of events. Even the 1969 Omar Shariff/Catherine Deneuve film "Mayerling" felt closer to the mark. If you want a genuinely gripping and well-documented account of the events surrounding Rudolph's suicide with beautifully drawn detail of Viennese life in 1888-89, you'd be much better off seeking Frederic Morton's brilliant book titled "A Nervous Splendor," readily available through the Amazon Marketplace booksellers.

Despite the considerable flaws aptly noted by other reviewers, I enjoyed watching this self-described mini-series, merely for the magnificent costumes and the splendid settings (both interior and exterior). I was thoroughly entertained and did not feel that I had wasted my time. As for the lack of historicity, well, "The Crown Prince" certainly beats Hollywood's "The Illusionist" (which I enjoyed immensely, even though it made an historical mincemeat out of the same Hapsburg era); and the film has inspired me to read more on the subject of this fascinating, tragic, and very dysfunctional royal family, the Hapsburgs.

If your cup of tea is costume drama and you are not too picky about history, "The Crown Prince" will deliver 180 minutes of gorgeosity; and the attention to scenic detail will also explain such minutia as why the Vienna State Opera House has that rather ungainly projected arched facade: It was for carriages to drive under to deliver their elegant charges to the great front doors. One never knows what one might learn from an elegantly produced movie set in such beautiful locations as Vienna and Prague.

The success of a movie is not always dependent on its historical accuracy. The Crown Prince came real close to history within the forgivable boundary of dramatization. As a simple tale of a bygone era, a misunderstood prince and the conflict between human emotions and social forces, it's been a great production. The music was optimum--reflective of the time, place and the weather. As someone in the 21st century, I am in no way in the position to judge the authenticity of a late nineteenth century environ, but it was enough to make me nostalgic about the era of kings, princes and beautiful court ladies.
Of course, many still doubt that the Crown Prince actually committed suicide--many hold the belief that he was assassinated, even possibly by his very own father. The conflict it showed was between the forward thinking prince and the power figures who were adamant about status quo. In real life Prince Rudolf was very smart--possibly too smart for his time. he had a knack for scientific ideas, collected natural specimens--rocks and butterflies, etc. He did envision a unified European continent, which is now EU. Who knows, if he stayed alive and took over the reign of Austro-Hungarian empire, we might have had a different world now.
Overall,the movie was great. I enjoyed it very much. Although I doubt those who are after docudrama in real sense will be satisfied.

This is a fictionalized account of Crown Prince Rudolph of Hapsburg. While the general story is based on fact, the creators took liberal license in their interpretation and it morphs into an unhappy fairytale about princes, princesses and royalty. My initial reaction was that the production was dull, despite an illustrious cast. The key character, Prince Rudolph, seemed weak, ineffectual, good-looking and boring. To believe that this man, so obsessed with a playboy lifestyle, was in fact a great political/military and scientific thinker stretched the bounds of credulity. But indeed what he was trying to forestall--war among European countries--materialized into World War I and the fall of the Hapsburg empire. His vision of a united Europe took a few more centuries.

To consolidate his position and strengthen his relationship with his estranged father, Rudolph marries a woman who is only able to bear him a daughter, thereby jeopardizing the future line able to inherit the Hapsburg empire. Rudolph has so many liaisons that he is plagued by gonorrhea, a disease he passes to his wife, and which the movie implies drives him to become a morphine addict. Eventually he becomes entranced with Baroness Maria Vetsera, the daughter of an old lover. She willingly sacrifices a brilliant marriage and future just to be with him. The story ends tragically at Mayerling, where they decide to face death together.

At the end of the second disk I did not have a satisfying feeling; I did not have any new insight into the fascinating Hapsburg family. But the movie was pleasant to watch, set amidst the glorious buildings and palaces of Vienna and Prague, and the wardrobe at least remained true to the period. I think it was worth watching but hardly a stellar production.

I am sure that "THE CROWN PRINCE" is full of drama, good acting, great dialogue and wonderful costumes. However, in the 1950s, Audrey Hepburn once appeared in an early-TV drama on the Mayerling Tragedy. I don't remember what program showcased it, but I remember to this day how enchantingly lovely she was. No one can ever make as graceful and as sweetly-humble, (but never humiliated!) a curtsey as Miss Hepburn did in that drama. As the Baroness Maria Vestsera, she knew her place. Or rather, her placeS. Onc was as a lady of the court of Franz Joseph. But the other was as the could-be wife of Crown Prince Rudolf. How much tragedy that would have prevented. And how much joy to see a very young Miss Hepburn in that role again! A perfect companion to the more modern version "The Crown Prince".
I'm sure I'm not the only person who would REALLY like to buy both of these versions, together!

I must say I did find this production visually stunning and pretty accurate historically. "The Crown Prince" centered on character development of the tortured heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. I found Max von Thun, aside from his obvious good looks, fairly convincing as the idealistic, democratically inclined, at times reckless (e.g., his frequenting of brothels) Rudolf von Hapsburg. Noteworthy performances included those of Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl-The Last Days) as Sarah Rudolf's first true love, Klaus Maria Brandauer as Rudolf's father (Kaiser Franz Joseph), among others.

A very entertaining and well-crafted film with outstanding production design and costumes. The film involves the life of Prince Rudolf who was the son of Franz Joseph, the emperor of Austria and king of Hungary.

A great love story that is very well produced and quality acting. Enjoyable and entertaining...M