Bared Breast Enthralls a Future Czar, and Stokes a Russian Culture War
Although the affair is well documented in personal letters from both protagonists in the state archives, the report called their liaison a "myth." "The negative image is
even worse due to the choice subscribed to him of a repulsive, ugly woman from the point of view of classic European and in particular Russian beauty," read the report.
Bishop Tikhon, the abbot of a historic Moscow monastery
and Mr. Putin’s putative confessor, also attacked the movie in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper late last year for what he called its "conscious distortion of history." The bishop demurred on the subject of banning the film, saying its release should be met with stern warnings about truth.
"But that’s enough only for the 1st time; later on — I know for sure — I won’t be content with this, I’ll wish for more, such is my temper." The future czar ended the affair when he married a German princess,
but the ballerina had more royal suitors ahead of her: She went on to date two of the czar’s cousins, marrying one of them and ultimately dying in Paris in 1971, several months shy of her 100th birthday.
They died for us so that we can make Russia flourish
and great." Ms. Poklonskaya commissioned a four-member panel to review the film, including specialists in religious studies, literature and psychology.
Those denouncing "Matilda" include a bishop rumored to be Mr. Putin’s personal confessor
and a photogenic young prosecutor from Crimea elected to the State Duma, or Parliament, after Russia seized the peninsula from Ukraine.
Mr. Uchitel, who has made several lyrical, romantic movies based on Russian history, said he had originally
meant to film a biopic about Kshesinskaya (pronounced Kshay-SIN-sky-ya), inspired by her diaries.
My main concern is that they haven’t seen the movie yet, but they are already judging it." The director’s plea
that people should wait to see the finished film before rendering judgment has been endorsed by the Ministry of Culture and various senior officials, including Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman.