The true story of forbidden romance between the heir to the throne and a 17-year-old girl in 19th century Austria was brought to life in this classic film from 1936.
Anatole Litvak was a Russian Jewish writer in the avant-garde theater of the early revolutionary period in the Soviet Union, eventually getting involved in the film industry there. He slipped out of the country in 1925, it’s not clear exactly how, and ended up directing films at UFA, the big German studio that was the home of Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau and many others. He made a few films that were hits there, but when Hitler came to power in 1933, Litvak fled to Paris, where he enjoyed a moderate success for awhile. Then in 1936 he directed the film that changed his life—it’s called Mayerling.
Charles Boyer plays the Archduke Rudolph, heir to the Hapsburg throne of Austria-Hungary in the late 19th century. He’s bored with his life of luxury, and spends a lot of time with dissident students and other radicals, much to the chagrin of his father, the Emperor, and his chief minister, who has him followed in an attempt to discredit him. The court is scandalized when he is arrested at a political meeting, although rescued through his father’s intervention. Sobered by this experience, he resigns himself to his fate and agrees to an arranged marriage, for the sake of an heir. Five years later, at age 30, he lives a dissolute existence, snatching pleasure from whomever and whatever he can outside of his unhappy marriage. Then he meets 17-year-old Marie Vetsera, played by Danielle Darrieux, whose innocence and unwavering love wins his heart. But the royal family disapproves of the liaison, and will go to any lengths to stop it.
The film’s title, Mayerling, refers to a town in the countryside near Vienna where Rudolph and Maria go to escape from all the pressure coming from his family and society. These were real historical figures whose affair scandalized 1880s Vienna. The film presents a vivid picture of the Austrian aristocracy from that bygone era, with exquisite art direction, costumes, and acting that beautifully evoke the social conventions of the time. The camera glides and whirls through the sets with astonishing grace. It’s a stylistic tour de force of old-school romanticism, and it only took five weeks to shoot.
As it turned out, this was the movie that turned Boyer into an international star and led to him going to Hollywood. He’s not merely handsome and romantic here—he has real depth of character, a sadness and inner conflict that makes the story of forbidden love come alive. Although Rudolph is surrounded by hangers-on, and can have any material thing he wishes, he longs for just one person who would understand and accept him for himself. Marie is so single-mindedly devoted to him that she seems both simple and incredibly courageous. On the face of it, she seems too good to be true, but Darrieux (only a couple years older than the girl she’s playing) gives a sensitive, touching performance that overcomes all doubt.
The success of the film led Litvak to Hollywood as well, where he had a distinguished career lasting through the 1960s. In Mayerling, the Russian exile demonstrates a bitter awareness of the corruption inherent in the old ways of the aristocracy, yet the film can’t help but shed something of a nostalgic glow over the story as well.
Mayerling has a smoky dreamlike visual texture, and it captures the tragic undertones of romantic passion as well as any film I’ve seen.
