Sisi (Italian: Sissi) is a 2009 Austrian-Italian-German biographical drama television miniseries directed by Xaver Schwarzenberger and starring Cristiana Capotondi in the title role.

Franz ’mother, Archduchess Sophie, is reluctant to see this, but faces the new situation: Sisi should be "re-educated" to become Empress, she has to take language and dance lessons, learn to understand court etiquette and acquire knowledge about her new empire.

One of the few friendly faces at court is Franz Joseph's brother Maximilian, Sisi's brother-in-law, with whom she gets along well, but who is leaving for Trieste.

She tries to get closer to her people and is shocked at the harsh treatment that the emperor reserve to those who hold more liberal views than the government.

She returns to her parents, where she spends time with Néné and also meets Count Andrássy, who asks her to take the side of Hungary and to convince the emperor to give more freedom to his provinces.

When Elisabeth and Franz Joseph travel to Budapest in 1857 to speak to the representatives of Hungary, including Count Andrássy, who has since been pardoned, Sophie dies of acute pneumonia.

While Maximilian introduces her to his fiancée, Charlotte of Belgium, and Sisi appoints the young Hungarian countess Ida Ferenczy as her new lady-in-waiting, Franz struggles with the freedom and unification movements in the Italian provinces (Lombardy and Veneto).

Maximilian tries to change his brother's mind, but Franz instead seeks an alliance with the French emperor in order to prevent the Italian provinces from rebelling against the empire.

While Sisi takes care of wounded soldiers returning home in Vienna, Andrássy reappears and confronts her with the consequences of Franz Joseph's actions.

Sisi's impotence to help anyone, be it Franz, Maximilian, the Hungarians or her own son Rudolf, contributes to a serious illness: with lung sickness, emaciated and depressed, she is advised by her doctors to spend some time in a more southern climate.

After a speech to Andrássy and the other country representatives, in which she promised more independence and the fulfillment of her demands, the Hungarians agree to crown Franz Joseph and her as their king and queen.