Nope. Pretty dang sure here. When she rode up, I thought she looked like she was riding astride. Then when she threw her leg over, I was even more surprised. So I looked at the saddle after she dismounted. Not sidesaddle. She dismounted on the left, the side facing the camera, so that’s where the side-saddle thingy would have been visible from. Definitely not there.
Then I noticed that her skirt unbuttoned all the way up, and was obviously designed for riding astride. And later, when she leaves the study, we see from behind that it might actually be floor-length culottes. Again, obviously designed for astride. I just wondered if that was historically accurate. For all I know, riding astride was the fashion in the Vienna of the day.
Okay, you obviously were paying more careful attention than I was. I just remember one scene where she was up on her horse and you could see – or I thought I could see, who knows – the way her knee was hooked around the thingy on a sidesaddle.
Saw it tonight. I thought it was just okay; my biggest problem with it was that it was too, too…PBS. Too BBC. The soft focus lens, the self-serious plot, the mish-mash of British and Central European accents, the vaguely cheap backgrounds – it felt like a big version of Masterpiece Theatre to me. I prefer my period pieces more in the “Amadeus” vein – fully-fledged, living, breathing, butt-scratching, wig-adjusting people who aren’t afraid to use American accents if that’s what they’ve got.
Another thing I didn’t really like was:
the implication that there may have been real magic afoot. The moment the ghost version of Biehl appeared, I knew that either 1) she was really still alive, or 2) we’re actually supposed to believe this is some kind of spiritual apparition. The first option gives the ending away immediately; the second option I didn’t feel very comfortable with – just didn’t fit.
Also, when the crown prince dressed up like a commoner to go watch the magic show, did anyone think he looked like
I couldn’t put my finger on it until now, but yes! That’s exactly what he looked like!
I agree with much of what’s been said, although in fairness I missed the middle part of the movie because I fell asleep. So maybe that’s when the chemistry and interesting stuff happened.