Why "Matilda" (not) should be watched. Naive questions about the scandalous picture

Where will we pray? In the temple or on the street? - the believers ask, entering the territory of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kadashi.

- And how God will give. If there are a few of us, then in the temple, and if there are many, then on the street,” one of the organizers of the prayer standing against the film “Matilda” answers.

At first, Orthodox activists wanted to hold a rally in one of the city squares, but the Moscow City Hall refused them, so they had to limit themselves to the territory of the temple.

Not far from the gate there is a coffee table with books on it. Participants in the prayer standing are offered to buy "The Tsar and Russia" for 500 rubles, as well as the magazine "The World of God" for 200. It soon becomes clear that the temple will not be able to accommodate everyone: people have filled almost the entire area around the church building.

Many in the crowd are worried and looking through the eyes of State Duma deputy Natalia Poklonskaya. Hearing their conversations, others grumble: "You should come to the temple to pray, and not stare at politicians." Through the crowd, women scurrying back and forth with piles of papers - these are activists collecting signatures for the ban on the film "Matilda".

Finally, two dozen clergymen and several hundred believers are in procession around the temple. Newly arrived people gradually join the moving crowd. Now about a thousand people are slowly moving towards the backyard of the church, where, as the organizers announced, prayer standing will take place.

The high wall separating the territory of the temple from the construction site was hung with posters depicting the family of the last Russian emperor and the inscriptions "For Faith, for the Fatherland, for the Tsar!" The liveliness of the spectacle is given by a huge construction crane towering above the wall. Despite the mass event in the neighborhood, he continues his work, dragging cargo. On the other hand, the sign "Vertical" hangs on the crane, so it seems that it is another decoration for prayer standing.

The essence of the claims

“We evaluate the film based on publicly available trailers posted on the Internet… In Matilda, our holy emperor appears as a fornicator, and Empress Alexandra is a sorceress. and organizer of the standing Andrey Kormukhin.

He emphasizes that the Orthodox cannot in this situation take the position of "if you don't like it, don't look," since Nicholas II is "like a relative" for them.

"Gentlemen officials! We, the Orthodox people, do not want this film, which defames the saints of the Russian Orthodox Church and directly offends our religious feelings, to be released," the leader of the Forty Forties addresses the audience.

He also assured that if believers are not heard today, such actions will be held again. Then, for an hour and a half, everyone prayed. Until recently, the organizers of the action themselves hoped that Poklonskaya, who so actively supported the standing, would be able to come. Only at the very end of the prayer it became known that the deputy was at an important meeting and would not be able to participate in the action this time.

Passion for Matilda

The scandal around "Matilda" broke out in 2016. At that time, the little-known public movement "Royal Cross" considered the painting a "threat to national security." Probably, no one would have known about this if Natalya Poklonskaya had not become interested in history.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption sent a request to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika with a request to check the film. Although the filmmakers insisted that "Matilda" was not yet ready, and no one had seen her yet, the deputy replied that written and oral appeals from the public were enough to apply to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Later, the director of the film, Alexei Uchitel, said that no violations of the law were found in his film. And Poklonskaya soon said that the prosecutor's office would also request an approved script for the film in order to conduct its research and examination. However, no official rulings have yet been issued on the discovery of violations of the law.

At the end of January, the NTV television channel aired a letter that the organization "Christian State - Holy Russia" had sent to directors of cinemas demanding that they stop showing Matilda. Later, Uchitel's lawyer said that the director had applied to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation with a request to protect the film's staff from "threats and illegal actions of extremist persons," as well as from slander by State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya.

"I have not read, but I condemn"

At the request of the Poklonskaya Commission of Experts, they made a conclusion about "Matilda" by examining the film's trailers and script. Verdict: the image of Nicholas II in the film does not correspond to the image of the emperor canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Ministry of Culture refused to accept such a conclusion, indignant that the experts had made it "without seeing the film."

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin called the request for inspections of the Uchitel's film company a personal initiative of MP Natalya Poklonskaya. At the same time, he stressed that the inspection departments in such a situation can either appoint an inspection or refuse it.

The deputy herself flatly refused to watch "Matilda", not wanting to "get dirty". “People already regard this film as an anti-Orthodox provocation and have the right to say so because they express their opinion,” Poklonskaya wrote on her LiveJournal blog. She also expressed doubt that the film will glorify and cultivate patriotism and high moral principles.

Poklonskaya's position is shared by Orthodox public organizations throughout the country, in particular, the Forty Forties movement. It was they who initiated the all-Russian prayer standing against "Matilda". Poklonskaya also invited the Teacher to stand so that he could talk with opponents. The director answered her with an invitation to the premiere of the film being prepared for distribution.

Position of the Church

The Russian Orthodox Church has not yet voiced its official position regarding Matilda. However, some of its representatives expressed their views. Thus, the chairman of the department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, even watched a film. However, later he confessed to the Teacher that he could not say anything good about his film and considered it "the apotheosis of vulgarity."

Another hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Yegoryevsk, did not like the distortion of history in Matilda. The creators of the film have Nicholas II rushing between Matilda and Alexandra Feodorovna - this, according to the bishop, is nothing but slander, since in reality, according to him, there was no love triangle.

“Why, to whom do they want to confuse their heads with another masterpiece slogan: “The Secret of the Romanov House”? What other secret? All secular Petersburg knew about the relationship between the heir and Kshesinskaya,” Bishop Tikhon was indignant.

However, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized that it was wrong to demand a ban on the film. In his opinion, it is enough to warn the audience about the historical truth and untruth in Matilda. The plot of the film, Bishop believes, allows it to be attributed only to the fantasy genre.

The Russian public was stirred up by the film "Matilda", which should be released on March 30. State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya, after appeals from angry citizens, even sent a request to Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika for the relevant authorities to check the picture, but no violations were found in the prosecutor's office. What is this film all about, why Orthodox activists opposed it, and the correspondent of the site decided to answer many other questions.

Who is Matilda?

The picture is dedicated to the fate of the dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya, who existed in reality, who was the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater. But she became famous not only for her plasticity, but also for her connection with the august persons of the Russian Empire. The young lady managed to be the favorite of Tsarevich Nicholas, the mistress of the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich, and the latter even married her, in the light of which Kshesinskaya received the title of the Most Serene Princess and the Romanov surname.

What is the film about and who worked on it?

The audience will unfold the story of the relationship between the last Russian emperor and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, who was a real star of her time and drove many men crazy with her beauty.
The director of the picture was the famous Russian master Alexei Uchitel, who worked on the films "Space as a Premonition", "Walk" and many others. The screenplay was written by writer Alexander Terekhov, winner of the Big Book and National Bestseller awards. Filming of the tape began in 2014 and took place on a large scale at the Mariinsky Theater, in the Catherine, Alexander, Yusupov and Elaginoostrovsky palaces. In addition, the scenery for the Assumption Cathedral, the Palace on the River Pontoon and the interiors of the carriages of the Imperial railway train were built for the film, and more than 17 tons of fabric were spent on the creation of costumes and a total of 5 thousand outfits were made. Thus, the total budget amounted to 25 million dollars.

Who's starring in Matilda?

On the big screen, viewers will see Danila Kozlovsky, who will play Count Vorontsov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, she will appear before the audience in the image of Empress Maria Feodorovna, and Sergei Garmash in the role of Emperor Alexander III. Artists of the troupe of the Berlin theater "Schaubühne" Lars Eidinger and Louise Wolfram will play Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Keira Knightley was originally predicted for the main role, and the director kept a secret for a long time who, after all, would become Matilda Kshesinskaya in his film. Now it is known that the 24-year-old Polish film actress, violinist, singer and writer Michalina Olshanska was chosen for the main role.

What did the activists not like?

It is important to note that no one has seen the film yet - neither the activists nor Natalya Poklonskaya. The opinion is based only on a single trailer, although there seems to be nothing dangerous in it.
Recall that in July 2016, opponents of the tape created a petition on the Change.org website, where they collected signatures for the cancellation of the picture, explaining that "the content of the film is a deliberate lie."
As explained by those who opposed "Matilda", there are no facts in history of the cohabitation of Russian tsars with ballerinas. In addition, in their opinion, Russia is presented here "as a country of gallows, drunkenness and fornication, which is also a lie. The picture includes bed scenes of Nicholas II with Matilda, the tsar himself is presented as a cruel and vengeful debaucher and adulterer."
Poklonskaya, who supported the activists, added that "this film defiles the feelings of the Orthodox and contains unreliable, false information about our sovereign, who is canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, is our saint, martyr."

Why did individual believers belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church oppose this film, which has not yet been released?

A trailer for this movie was shown especially for some people. Why are trailers shown to specially invited people? So that they become interested in the film, so that they can judge it not by its name, but by its trailer and, probably, the conversation with producers, authors and actors that took place while watching the trailer.

So we fix - individual people who were shown the trailer may well and are free to express their opinion about the concept of the film.

And then - it's easier to read the words of the most dissatisfied Shevkunov: life.ru

If what he says about the movie trailer is true, then I agree with him.

Fact based fantasy is one thing. Another thing is just fiction that can really be offensive to a person.

Nikolai Alexandrovich had an affair before the engagement. The novel was broken and this is a fact recorded in the diaries personally by the beloved. ON THE. an honest man and the novel stopped. The film allegedly shows a man acting dishonestly.

They have the right, of course, to invent. Well, others have the right to be outraged by this.

It's like with Vyrubova. At first, people made up jokes, and then some *** wrote fake diaries with vile vulgarities from jokes. Only now the interim government conducted an investigation and nothing was confirmed, it was not possible to accuse or judge. The Bolsheviks drew these jokes on the wallpaper before they were shot.

The result - well, they played along with the extremists, everyone will be furious, jumping, barking (both sides), hating each other even more.

Regarding what Alexei Badryzlov said.

The Church cannot and does not consider N.A. sinless, since there are no sinless ones, including saints does not mean sinless. Including N.A. and his family are glorified for how they accepted death (this is additionally emphasized by the term - passion-bearers), and not for how N.A. lived.

From the official report of the commission:

Being anointed to the Kingdom, endowed with full power, Emperor Nicholas II was responsible for all the events that took place in his state, both before his people and before God. Therefore, a certain share of personal responsibility for historical errors like the events of January 9, 1905 - and this topic was devoted to a special report adopted by the Commission - lies with the Emperor himself, although it cannot be measured by the degree of his participation, or rather non-participation in these events.

Another example of the actions of the Emperor, which had detrimental consequences for the fate of Russia and the Royal Family itself, was his relationship with Rasputin - and this was shown in the study "The Royal Family and G. E. Rasputin." Indeed, how could it happen that such a figure as Rasputin could influence the Royal Family and the Russian state-political life of his time? The key to the Rasputin phenomenon lies in the illness of Tsarevich Alexy. Although it is known that the Sovereign repeatedly tried to get rid of Rasputin, but every time he retreated under pressure from the Empress because of the need to seek help from Rasputin to heal the Heir. It can be said that the Emperor was unable to resist Alexandra Feodorovna, tormented by grief because of her son's illness and, in connection with this, was under the influence of Rasputin.

Summing up the study of the state and church activities of the last Russian Emperor, the Commission did not find sufficient grounds for his canonization.

However, in the Orthodox Church there are known cases of canonization of saints, even those Christians who led a sinful life after baptism. Their canonization was carried out precisely because they atoned for their sins not only by repentance, but also by a special feat - martyrdom or asceticism.

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“One evening, when the Heir stayed with me almost until morning, he told me that he was going abroad to meet with Princess Alice of Hesse, with whom they wanted to marry him. Subsequently, we spoke more than once about the inevitability of his marriage and the inevitability of our separation, ”she writes in her memoirs. And when on April 7, 1894, the official engagement of Tsarevich Nicholas with 22-year-old Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced, Matilda admitted: “My grief knew no bounds.”

I must say that after the engagement, Nikolai immediately told the bride about his relationship with Kshesinskaya, and she forgave him in an edifying letter: “What has passed has passed and will never return. All of us in this world are surrounded by temptations, and when we are young, we cannot always fight to resist temptation… I love you even more since you told me this story. Your trust touches me so deeply… Can I be worthy of it…?”

Memoirs of Kshesinskaya can be read here, everything about meetings and about her novels after N.A .:

Words by A.F. were written to her in the diary of N.A. July 8, 1894 in English, translated from the footnote at the end of the text:

_ _ _

There were no throwings after the engagement and fainting during the coronation. Just read these diaries and compare with the movie. The teacher implies that this is all a lie and N.A. monstrous hypocrite.

Yes, I understand, the usual thing for young people is to walk with one and immediately forget her in order to overflow with love for the other. You can see it in the diaries.

Where did the Teacher come up with that N.A. rushed about (and this is so about the trailer, fainted, etc.) and, consequently, disgustingly hypocritically lied in the diary - I don’t know.

And, yes, I'm not against the film, you never know how many different films there are. I would only be glad if the film was not financed at public expense and money was not laundered on it, as is now suspected.

In the center of the plot of the historical melodrama, as the creators called the genre, is the love of Tsarevich Nikolai Romanov, the future of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. The romantic relationship did not last long - until his coronation with his future wife Alexandra Federovna. By the way, they say that the ballerina and Nicholas II even had a daughter (!)

After a connection with Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, she was the mistress of another Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and later married another representative of the royal house - Grand Duke Andrei Romanov. She raised an illegitimate son. And after the revolution of 1917, she left Russia forever. In Paris, she had her own ballet school.

The ban on the film Matilda is one of the hotly discussed topics on the Russian Internet.

Photo frame from the movie

The fate of Kshesinskaya in itself is curious - she lived a long life, almost a hundred years. She is a prima ballerina of the imperial theaters, an influential person.

The role of the main character was invited by the Polish actress Mikhalina Olshanskaya, Emperor Nicholas II was played by the German theater and film actor Lars Eidinger. Among the star names: Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Evgeny Mironov, Sergey Garmash, Danila Kozlovsky and Grigory Dobrygin.

The painting, meanwhile, was conceived from the first day as a large-scale historical reconstruction: the Assumption Cathedral, the Palace on the River Pontoon and the interiors of the carriages of the Imperial railway train were specially recreated. Filming took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, in the Catherine, Alexander, Yusupov and Elaginoostrovsky palaces. According to some information, 17 tons of fabric were used for 5 thousand costumes. The film's budget is $25 million.

How did it all start?

Photo frame from the movie

The fact that director Alexei Uchitel began filming historical films in 2014 was known and no one protested. And when the production was in full swing, to say the least, the public suddenly began to actively object to the filming, demanding a complete ban. Perhaps the first trailer for the film seemed provocative. But since its appearance, complaints have been pouring in. Among the main initiators is the public movement "Royal Cross":

“In the film“ Matilda ”, Tsar Nicholas II is depicted not as he really was. The love between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Tsar Nicholas II was platonic, not lustful. Also, under the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, the economic and social situation was better compared to the current situation in Russia,” the public activists said in an official statement. And they turned for support to Natalia Poklonskaya, now a State Duma deputy, and at that time the prosecutor of the Republic of Crimea.

Natalya Poklonskaya twice sent a request to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation to check "Matilda" for extremism. The audit found no violations. In 2016, a petition appeared on the Internet on the site Change.org, the purpose of which is to ban the film. “The content of the film is a deliberate lie,” it says.

“In history, there are no facts of cohabitation of Russian tsars with ballerinas,” the petition says. - Russia is presented in the film as a country of gallows, drunkenness and fornication, which is also a lie. The picture includes bed scenes of Nicholas II with Matilda, the tsar himself is presented as a cruel vengeful debaucher and adulterer.

Photo frame from the movie

At the end of January 2017, letters of complaint were sent to the cinemas of the country. Natalya Poklonskaya sent another deputy request to the Prosecutor General's Office to check the legality of spending the budget funds allocated by the Cinema Fund for the creation of the film. And in April 2017 - to an expert commission, consisting of doctors of psychological, legal, philological, cultural, historical sciences with an expert experience of up to 28 years, to evaluate the script and trailers of the film.

The members of the commission saw a lot of criticisms: from, again, the moral character of the Russian Tsar to the ugly appearance of his beloved. And the verdict is the same: a false image of St. Nicholas II is imposed in the picture, the feelings of believers are offended. The results of the examination were once again sent to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Who supported the release of the film?

The main idea that sounds among most cultural figures and officials is that it is premature to make an opinion about a film that has not yet been released. But aggressive attacks from public organizations also could not go unnoticed. Many cultural figures considered it their duty to come out in support of the film: film director Stanislav Govorukhin, chairman of the Duma Committee on Culture, criticized the idea of ​​checking the film, adding that such initiatives should be interrupted in the bud.

The open letter was written by more than forty Russian filmmakers, including Pavel Lungin, Alexander Proshkin, Alexander Gelman, Vitaly Mansky, Andrey Smirnov and others. The Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, who was on the set of the film several times, also supported Matilda on the air of Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.

Finally, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, commented on the situation around the premiere. According to him, to evaluate a film that is not yet ready is at least strange. “And then, to be honest, I, unfortunately, do not have information about which experts evaluated the film - expert to expert strife. Therefore, without knowing who exactly evaluated the film, within what powers, it is probably difficult to talk about something, ”Peskov said.

And what do the descendants of the royal Romanov dynasty say?

Photo frame from the movie

Representatives of the Romanov family do not agree on the assessment of the film, which has not yet been released. But the idea of ​​the film clearly did not appeal to many. The director of the office of the Russian Imperial House, Alexander Zakatov, on the air of Radio Baltika called Matilda a base fake that has nothing to do with real events: “It is quite possible to discuss the personality of even a holy person, even a king, but for what purpose? To show in some perverted form, to earn money on low emotions and instincts? This is not good".

The representative of the association of members of the Romanov family (another branch of the family) in Russia, Ivan Artsishevsky, believes that there is nothing offensive in the picture. “Nicholas II became a saint for martyrdom, and I think it’s absolutely normal to show him as a man - this is my personal position,” Artsishevsky told TASS.

The filmmakers are tired of controversy

Director Alexei Uchitel called the discussion around Matilda useless and unnecessary. “Honestly, I'm already tired of Mrs. Poklonskaya's war with me and the entire film crew. Instead of calmly finishing the film, I have to be distracted by nonsense, nonsense and insults, ”said the director of RIA Novosti. “A film will come out, everyone will watch it, and only then will it be possible to discuss it.”

The producer of the film, Alexander Dostman, also believes: “People who have not seen the film, and no one except the working group has seen it, cannot draw any conclusions - this is ridiculous, some kind of comedy, amazing stupidity. And it’s even more surprising that everyone follows Natalia Poklonskaya’s lead, reckon with her opinion, I have already ceased to be surprised by her. This is a film about beautiful love. Regardless of whether Tsar Nicholas is or not, he is a man, and a man, what, cannot love?

According to TASS, Konstantin Dobrynin, the lawyer of director Alexei Uchitel, filed a complaint with the ethics commission of the State Duma of Russia against the activities of deputy Natalia Poklonskaya, substantiating possible violations of the rules of deputy ethics, manifested in Poklonskaya's "unfounded accusations" against the Teacher, as well as in the "use knowingly false information and calls for illegal actions" against the creators of the film "Matilda".

When is the premiere?

The premiere is scheduled for October 26, 2017, it will be held at the Mariinsky Theater - where the main character of the film, Matilda Kshesinskaya, performed at the beginning of the 20th century. By the way, the musical producer of the film was the artistic director and general director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev.

In the center of the plot of the historical melodrama, as the creators called the genre, is the love of Tsarevich Nikolai Romanov, the future of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. The romantic relationship did not last long - until his coronation with his future wife Alexandra Federovna. By the way, they say that the ballerina and Nicholas II even had a daughter (!)

After a connection with Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, she was the mistress of another Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and later married another representative of the royal house - Grand Duke Andrei Romanov. She raised an illegitimate son. And after the revolution of 1917, she left Russia forever. In Paris, she had her own ballet school.

The ban on the film Matilda is one of the hotly discussed topics on the Russian Internet.

Photo frame from the movie

The fate of Kshesinskaya in itself is curious - she lived a long life, almost a hundred years. She is a prima ballerina of the imperial theaters, an influential person.

The role of the main character was invited by the Polish actress Mikhalina Olshanskaya, Emperor Nicholas II was played by the German theater and film actor Lars Eidinger. Among the star names: Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Evgeny Mironov, Sergey Garmash, Danila Kozlovsky and Grigory Dobrygin.

The painting, meanwhile, was conceived from the first day as a large-scale historical reconstruction: the Assumption Cathedral, the Palace on the River Pontoon and the interiors of the carriages of the Imperial railway train were specially recreated. Filming took place at the Mariinsky Theatre, in the Catherine, Alexander, Yusupov and Elaginoostrovsky palaces. According to some information, 17 tons of fabric were used for 5 thousand costumes. The film's budget is $25 million.

How did it all start?

Photo frame from the movie

The fact that director Alexei Uchitel began filming historical films in 2014 was known and no one protested. And when the production was in full swing, to say the least, the public suddenly began to actively object to the filming, demanding a complete ban. Perhaps the first trailer for the film seemed provocative. But since its appearance, complaints have been pouring in. Among the main initiators is the public movement "Royal Cross":

“In the film“ Matilda ”, Tsar Nicholas II is depicted not as he really was. The love between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Tsar Nicholas II was platonic, not lustful. Also, under the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, the economic and social situation was better compared to the current situation in Russia,” the public activists said in an official statement. And they turned for support to Natalia Poklonskaya, now a State Duma deputy, and at that time the prosecutor of the Republic of Crimea.

Natalya Poklonskaya twice sent a request to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation to check "Matilda" for extremism. The audit found no violations. In 2016, a petition appeared on the Internet on the site Change.org, the purpose of which is to ban the film. “The content of the film is a deliberate lie,” it says.

“In history, there are no facts of cohabitation of Russian tsars with ballerinas,” the petition says. - Russia is presented in the film as a country of gallows, drunkenness and fornication, which is also a lie. The picture includes bed scenes of Nicholas II with Matilda, the tsar himself is presented as a cruel vengeful debaucher and adulterer.

Photo frame from the movie

At the end of January 2017, letters of complaint were sent to the cinemas of the country. Natalya Poklonskaya sent another deputy request to the Prosecutor General's Office to check the legality of spending the budget funds allocated by the Cinema Fund for the creation of the film. And in April 2017 - to an expert commission, consisting of doctors of psychological, legal, philological, cultural, historical sciences with an expert experience of up to 28 years, to evaluate the script and trailers of the film.

The members of the commission saw a lot of criticisms: from, again, the moral character of the Russian Tsar to the ugly appearance of his beloved. And the verdict is the same: a false image of St. Nicholas II is imposed in the picture, the feelings of believers are offended. The results of the examination were once again sent to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Who supported the release of the film?

The main idea that sounds among most cultural figures and officials is that it is premature to make an opinion about a film that has not yet been released. But aggressive attacks from public organizations also could not go unnoticed. Many cultural figures considered it their duty to come out in support of the film: film director Stanislav Govorukhin, chairman of the Duma Committee on Culture, criticized the idea of ​​checking the film, adding that such initiatives should be interrupted in the bud.

The open letter was written by more than forty Russian filmmakers, including Pavel Lungin, Alexander Proshkin, Alexander Gelman, Vitaly Mansky, Andrey Smirnov and others. The Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, who was on the set of the film several times, also supported Matilda on the air of Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.

Finally, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, commented on the situation around the premiere. According to him, to evaluate a film that is not yet ready is at least strange. “And then, to be honest, I, unfortunately, do not have information about which experts evaluated the film - expert to expert strife. Therefore, without knowing who exactly evaluated the film, within what powers, it is probably difficult to talk about something, ”Peskov said.

And what do the descendants of the royal Romanov dynasty say?

Photo frame from the movie

Representatives of the Romanov family do not agree on the assessment of the film, which has not yet been released. But the idea of ​​the film clearly did not appeal to many. The director of the office of the Russian Imperial House, Alexander Zakatov, on the air of Radio Baltika called Matilda a base fake that has nothing to do with real events: “It is quite possible to discuss the personality of even a holy person, even a king, but for what purpose? To show in some perverted form, to earn money on low emotions and instincts? This is not good".

The representative of the association of members of the Romanov family (another branch of the family) in Russia, Ivan Artsishevsky, believes that there is nothing offensive in the picture. “Nicholas II became a saint for martyrdom, and I think it’s absolutely normal to show him as a man - this is my personal position,” Artsishevsky told TASS.

The filmmakers are tired of controversy

Director Alexei Uchitel called the discussion around Matilda useless and unnecessary. “Honestly, I'm already tired of Mrs. Poklonskaya's war with me and the entire film crew. Instead of calmly finishing the film, I have to be distracted by nonsense, nonsense and insults, ”said the director of RIA Novosti. “A film will come out, everyone will watch it, and only then will it be possible to discuss it.”

The producer of the film, Alexander Dostman, also believes: “People who have not seen the film, and no one except the working group has seen it, cannot draw any conclusions - this is ridiculous, some kind of comedy, amazing stupidity. And it’s even more surprising that everyone follows Natalia Poklonskaya’s lead, reckon with her opinion, I have already ceased to be surprised by her. This is a film about beautiful love. Regardless of whether Tsar Nicholas is or not, he is a man, and a man, what, cannot love?

According to TASS, Konstantin Dobrynin, the lawyer of director Alexei Uchitel, filed a complaint with the ethics commission of the State Duma of Russia against the activities of deputy Natalia Poklonskaya, substantiating possible violations of the rules of deputy ethics, manifested in Poklonskaya's "unfounded accusations" against the Teacher, as well as in the "use knowingly false information and calls for illegal actions" against the creators of the film "Matilda".

When is the premiere?

The premiere is scheduled for October 26, 2017, it will be held at the Mariinsky Theater - where the main character of the film, Matilda Kshesinskaya, performed at the beginning of the 20th century. By the way, the musical producer of the film was the artistic director and general director of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev.