Die Schöne Lügnerin (1959) - film review

Vienna, 1815.  The crown heads of Europe have assembled for a congress that will determine the boundaries of their countries after the fall of the Emperor Napoleon.  Against this political intrigue, a young man named Martin is pursuing an intense love affair with a modest dressmaker named Fanny.  Passing himself off as a valet, Martin is in fact Count Waldau, the private secretary of Prince Meternich, the Austrian chancellor.   When Meternich learns of this, he persuades Fanny’s grandfather to put an end to the love match.  Determined to see Martin, Fanny disguises herself as a man so that she can gain access to a state ball.  Having learned of Martin’s deception, Fanny takes her revenge by allowing the Russian Emperor, Tsar Alexander I, to flirt with her.  What begins as a harmless joke soon has the potential to mushroom into a major diplomatic incident...

This lavish Franco-German production is an all too obvious attempt to capitalise on the success of Romy Schneider in the three Sissi films that she starred in during the mid 1950s.  By this stage, the Austrian actress was becoming bored with the role she was expected to play in this kind of film, the sweet natured ingénue at whose feet noblemen would throw themselves.  Within a few years, she would venture into new horizons and far more challenging roles with her break into French cinema.  

Die Schöne Lügnerin (aka La Belle et l’empereur) is a charming enough film, enriched by some enjoyable performances and the stunning production values that were typical of German and Fench period films of this time.   Needless to say, Romy Schneider steals the show through her grace and beauty, which light up every scene more brightly than a dozen floodlights.  The legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau makes a brief but memorable appearance, doing an amusing send up of Napoleon’s attempt to conquer Europe – by ripping the countries off a wall map and crumpling them up.  (Political satire was so much more sophisticated in those days.)

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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