Catherine the Great

I postponed watching this for two years after seeing the mediocre reviews on it when it first came out. Well, after deciding to give it a watch, I can say that the reviews..... are right. As many have pointed out, this series had so much going for it. It had Helen Mirren as the lead, it had the production capacity of HBO, which has already produced several fantastic historical miniseries (including my favorite show of all time, Band of Brothers), and had the chance to explore a relatively unknown piece of history to most people, with a powerful, FEMALE, figure at its center. So what did this show do with all this potential? They made it into a historical SOAP OPERA that was more focused on Catherine's love interests rather than her achievements, both as a ruler and as a WOMAN in the 18th century.

If, like me, you go into this not knowing a whole lot about Catherine the Great, then all you'll have learned by the end of the show is that she was Empress of Russia, she fought two wars against the Ottomans, and she had a lot of sexual relationships, that's it. What you won't know is that she also had to deal with wars against Persia, Sweden, and Poland, as well as Pugachev's Rebellion. This latter fact is depicted in the show, but it has a screen time of less than 15 minutes spread over the course of one episode, and only serves as a plot device to make Catherine more enamored with her main lover, Potemkin. Besides wars, Catherine also made significant advances in the arts and sciences, reorganized the government, reformed the economy, and overall was a very enlightened monarch. Her major goal was to make Russia a recognized power in Europe, which she succeeded in doing. Yet all of these are never mentioned throughout the 4 episode runtime. I had to look this all up on my own once I was finished watching in order to gain more knowledge on her.

Speaking about Catherine in the show, I think Helen Mirren did a good job with what she was given. I will agree though that having her depict a woman 40 years younger than she is herself, at least in the beginning of the show, was not a good idea. This meant that Catherine's promiscuity couldn't quite be shown well, as it's a bit difficult to pull of a steamy scene with a grandmother. Catherine's relationship with Potemkin is also severely overplayed, and while I do think both actors did a good jump, having this be the main focus of the show made it rather dull. It also proved to be a bit detrimental as Catherine always becomes upset when Lover-boy heads off to fight the wars, and all she does is mope and write letters to him about how much she misses him and wants him to return. They make the Empress of Russia unable to function without her man there to give her strength and comfort. So much for a powerful female figure.

The history being told is also a major problem. I understand historical shows and films can't show every single detail in history, as it would be too much, and so certain elements have to be omitted for the sake of plot. However, there is no comprehension of time within this show; it flies by. The first episode starts at the beginning of Catherine's reign in 1762, but by the end they are already talking about going to war with the Turks, which is in 1768, and the time it took to get there only feels like a few days. Unless you know you're history, or look up the events as they are mentioned, you'll have no idea what time they are supposed to be in and how much of it has passed. It is also clear that the writers had little to no care for the history they were showing, and one of these biggest aspects for me is actually quite a minor detail overall. There are several German diplomats and aristocrats that appear throughout the show, and they are all referred to as coming from Germany. However, Germany wasn't a name on a map until the mid-1870's, 80 years after Catherine died. So it seems to me that the reasoning for this, rather than saying they are from one of the German speaking states such as Prussia or Wurttemberg, is because the writers instead assume the audience is dumb and won't know what those places are and so makes it easy by simply saying they are from Germany. While this may be simpler for those unfamiliar with German history, for those who do, it's a slap in the face. This wasn't the only aspect of the show that irked me, but it was the one that made me realize the lack of effort being put in to showcase the history.

If there is one positive thing I can say about this show, it's the sets, costumes, and colors. All are amazing to look at, and it's why I love watching shows that depict this period in history.

Overall, while my comments have been very negative, Catherine the Great is NOT a show I can say I don't recommend. It is watchable, just not as a biography. If you're into Soap Operas and would like to see one in a historical setting, then by all means give this a look. However, if you're looking for an insight into the life and reign of one of Russia's greatest monarchs, you'll probably get more enjoyment from reading her Wikipedia article instead.

Catherine's life is divided into two parts approximately the same length. Between 1729 and 1762 , she went from being a German princess to a Russian grand duchess ; from 1762 until she died in 1796, she was Empress of Russia . The main source of information about her life is her Memoirs . She was the reigning Empress of Russia for 34 years, from June 28, 1762 until her death at age 67. Catherine collected the legacy of Peter I of Russia, "a window to the West on the Baltic coast", and enlarged it, opening it on the Black Sea. Pedro imported technology, government institutions and military organization and Catalina brought legal, political and moral philosophy from Europe, as well as medicine, art, culture and education. The aging Catherine-Helen Mirren is magnificent in the title role of this television drama . She's constantly besieged by court intrigue , political machinations and wars : Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) and Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792) and taking part of Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. And Russo-Persian War in which Russia agreed to protect Georgia against any new invasion and further political aspirations of their Persian suzerains. Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they, under the new king Agha Mohammad Khan, had again invaded Georgia and had expelled the newly established Russian garrisons in the Caucasus . Elizabeth had learnt her political lessons in the years of intrigue before she became Queen , she was a brilliant stateswoman, managing a to rule a great empire. It begins after the death her husband king Peter III , then she's crowned the only Queen. The marriage between Catherine and Peter III was a disaster and with the help of Gregory Orlov , Catherine eventually gets rid of Peter and is crowned Empress and Czarina of all the Russias as she struggles to drag her medieval empire into the modern world and she eventually leads the Cossacks army against rebel tartars .

Slow but lavish and engrossing British dramatization of the empress Catherine the Great . This notable historic drama recreates the wars , turmoil , struggle for power and loves , though adding some crude love scenes . Typically lavish and simplist historical retelling relies heavily on the love story between Catherine and Grigory Potemkin . Helen Mirren is awesome as Catherine the Great ; furthermore , Jason Clarke is good cast as Potemkin . Spectacular palaces , the ball-room scenes, the costumes and the uniforms are good . Philip Martin , the filmmaker, and the script-writer Nigel Williams deliver us a fine historical movie with passion and intelligence . Special mention for support actors , such as the notable Richard Roxburgh as Grigory Orlov , Kevin McNally as Alexi Orlov, Joseph Quinn as Prince Paul who'll succeed as Czar though he had an unfortunate final , Clive Russell as Court Fool , Rory Kinnear as Minister Panin , Thomas Doherty as Peter Zavadovsky and Gina Mckee is equally outstanding as the arrogant Countess Praskovya . Wonderful colorful cinematography adds to the atmosphere shot on locations in Pilsrundale, Latvia in Vilnius, Lithuania, but it does help to know some history in order to keep the interesting plot . Director Philip Martin takes a brilliant look at the turbulent life of famous Empress of all the Russias from her troublesome years and machinations surrounding her reign .

Other renditions about this known Queen are the following ones : ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1943 by Paul Czinner with Elizabeth Bergner , Douglas Farirbanks Jr. , Flora Robson. ¨A Royal Scandal¨ 1945 by Otto Preminger, Ernst Lubitsch with Tallulah Bankhead , Charles Coburn , Anne Baxter , William Eythe . ¨Caterina di Russia¨ 1963 by Umberto Lenzi with Hildegard Knef , Sergio Fantoni , Giacomo Rossi Stewart . ¨Great Catherine¨ 1968 by Gordon Flemyng with Jeanne Moreau, Peter O'Toole, Zero Mostel, Jack Hawkins . ¨Catherine the Great¨ 1995 by Marvin J. Chomsky with Catherine Zeta Jones , Paul McGann, Ian Richardson.

Catherine was in her late 30s when the drama starts, and Helen is in her 70s... so it is a little bit, strange. The history is poorly reconstructed and it lacks enthusiasm and the Russian carisma. I was expecting more...

I leave to others to pour over the historical innacuracies or the fact that was Helen Mirren to old to play Catherine over a 20 year period. My initial view was that the sets, the scenes , the costumes were simply stunning, held together iby a bravura performance from Helen Mirren - although the story & script were a bit dull. However, after I'd seen all the episodes, I felt the limited story flowed well, that Jason Clarke and others acted immpecably. Yet Helen Mirren was magnificent , a delightful blend of duty, love, and preserving the Russian Legacy. Surely an Emmy awaits her performance in this. If you find it boring , stick with it & the performances will carry you through. Not a classic but a very good attempt.

Was so looking forward to this, as Russian historical dramas are hard to come by. Helen Mirren is of course stellar (as is Rory Kinnear) but its let down by the need to have unrelated/ unnecessary vulgarity that doesn't progress the plot and comes across as unintentionally funny.

The Russo-Turkish War is merely a generic background war, Catherine's enlightenment and progression barely touched on. I echo others in these reviews that are underwhelmed and disappointed.

My advice is to avoid and watch the 2015 Russiabn series "Ekaterina: The Rise of Catherine the Great" currently on Amazon Prime