Crown Prince Rudolf's Last Love (2006)
Crown Prince Rudolf's Last Love (alternatively Crown Prince Rudolf ) is an Austrian-German-Italian television film from 2006 and deals with the last ten years of the life of the Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg . For German television, the two-part series of 180 minutes was shortened by around 75 minutes and shown under the same title as a one-part film reduced to the romance with Mary Vetsera .
action
Crown Prince Rudolf is a sensitive and intelligent young man who recognizes and supports the need for changes and innovations for the Danube monarchy on the threshold of the twentieth century. However, neither his father, Emperor Franz Joseph , who stoically adheres to traditional traditions, nor other political rulers like the new Prime Minister Eduard Graf Taaffe or the conservative Archbishop Schwarzenberg , who see these ideas as a threat to their position, want from his vision of a united Europe . to hear something. In order to dissuade him from his liberal fantasies, he is excluded from all important political decisions and sent to Prague.
There Rudolf experiences the happiness of love for the first time when, on the advice of his fatherly friend, the court painter Hans Canon , he mingles incognito with his people and gets to know Sarah, the daughter of a Jewish baker. This romance is nipped in the bud, however, when the crown prince is recognized and the girl is then taken away and married, only to die of a violent fever shortly afterwards. After Rudolf drowned his grief in alcohol in the following months, he finally threw himself into politics with renewed zeal after Canon reminded him that one can only change something if one acts accordingly.
Under the pseudonym Julius Felix, Rudolf advertises in Moriz Szeps' newspaper and publishes his liberal ideas in this way. The Kaiser and the Prime Minister, however, continue to pursue their conservative course and renew the alliance with Prussia under the young Kaiser Wilhelm II , which, according to Rudolf's fears, will sooner or later lead to war with France and Russia. Therefore, despite the urging of his mother Elisabeth , he repeatedly refuses the offer to become King of Hungary in order not to weaken the Danube monarchy further.
In order to ensure more stability, Rudolf agrees to marry Princess Stephanie of Belgium . She gives birth to a daughter . During one of his numerous love affairs, he contracted syphilis , which he infected Stephanie with. As a result, she cannot have any more children. That puts a strain on the already strained relationship between the two.
When the Crown Prince, now addicted to morphine as a result of his syphilis, has to watch his visions of a better future shatter bit by bit due to the narrow-minded politics of his father and a series of unfortunate circumstances, he is filled with depression and thoughts of suicide. The only thing that gives him stability is the romance with the young Mary Baroness Vetsera , who already loved him as a little girl.
Ultimately, this is no salvation for him either. When the French liberal Georges Clemenceau lost his last hope in the elections , he decided to commit suicide in his hunting lodge . But Mary, seeing through his intentions, insists that out of love, she dies with him.
While the body of Rudolf is buried with full honors in the imperial crypt, the young Baroness Vetsera is first buried in an anonymous grave so as not to widen this unbelievable scandal.
production
The Habsburg expert Brigitte Hamann , author of the biography Rudolf - Kronprinz und Rebell (Vienna 1978) acted as historical advisor . Around 70,000 meters of 35 mm film , 4,000 props , 3,500 extras , 2,000 pieces of furniture, 1,800 costumes, 200 beards and wigs, 110 team members, 70 carriage assignments and 53 actor roles were used for the production. A total of 50 days of shooting were required. Most of the filming took place at historical locations in Vienna and Lower Austria (104 sets at 72 locations), including the Vienna Hofburg , Schönbrunn Palace and the Museum of Military History .
Reviews
About the original version:
“Solid (television) drama that not only deals with the love life of the Crown Prince, but also with his political ambitions. The opulent historical epic tells the story of the time-honored Danube monarchy with all its accompanying political circumstances, but does not take enough time to paint contemporary backgrounds and figures; In view of its content and quality requirements, in which neither star cast nor extras, costumes and original locations were saved, the film would have needed significantly more space for atmosphere. In fact, the detailed piece of equipment was originally designed as a much more detailed two-piece. "
About the shortened version:
“The three-hour original version also illuminates the political landscape of the epoch, here [in the abridged version] there are feelings instead of history, plus opulent equipment and great actors. [...] - »Also worth seeing 'blended'.« "
Other versions
- DVD release: Crown Prince Rudolf - Sissi's only son / September 27, 2007 / Universal Pictures DVD
- Leibfiaker Bratfisch : historical film drama from the years 1919 and 1924/25
- Mayerling (1936) : Anatole Litvak made a film about the story of the Mayerling drama .
- Mayerling (1968) : Here Omar Sharif (the 2006 version of the court painter Hans Canon) played Crown Prince Rudolf alongside Catherine Deneuve (Mary Vetsera) and James Mason (Franz Joseph).
- Crown Prince Rudolf's last love (1956) : A film adaptation of the subject with Rudolf Prack and Christiane Hörbiger in the leading roles.
Web links
- Crown Prince Rudolf's last love in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Crown Prince Rudolf's last love at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Crown Prince Rudolf's Last Love - Film Review ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at tvspielfilm.de , accessed on June 23, 2013.
- ↑ Crown Prince Rudolf on 3sat.de, accessed on September 5, 2013
- ^ Crown Prince Rudolf's last love. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
