Rasputin

Despite a story offering huge dramatic possibilities and two top French actors, who can both inhabit a role and project charisma, the version shown on French TV too often seemed to show animated waxworks in sumptuous settings mouthing predictable dialogue. Perhaps the Russian version was better.

A story which has been told and told and TOLD ;I have seen at least six of them and there is another one scheduled for 2012 starring Jean Reno.

This MTV version is watchable but too short ;a miniseries should have been made instead.Depardieu is good,but not as impressive as Pierre Brasseur (1953) and not more than Gert Froebe in "J'Ai Tué RASPOUTINE" (1967).Fanny Ardant is an excellent empress but she is not given enough time to shine .

Raspoutine is not completely demeaned :his firm stand against war is shown (he was a MOUJIK and he knew them) but the screenwriters do not really succeed in making us believe why Russian people hated that monk;after all many others praised him and wanted to see him,to touch him;the story is sometimes botched and obviously much time is given to the assassination.They say cyanide didn't work cause it was "cooked" in the cakes .

For users interested in the subject ,I would recommend " J'Ai Tué Raspoutine" (1967 ) by Robert Hossein,which begins with a short interview with Felix Iusupov,short before he died.

NB: The movie was shown on Xmas evening and some people said it was not a very good choice .

Beautifully filmed at the original locations. Fanny Ardant (now aged 63) should portray a 34-old Zarina Alexandra, but makeup too, doesn't help. Depardieu is cheap and even more helpless. That may come from a poor script and an uninspiring direction. With all the recent historical information about the whole affair and its real political backgrounds, a more understandable and psychologically credible plot could have been done. Incidentally, Felix Yussupov (Rasputin's murderer) was a homosexual and not a transvestite; he did not seduce Rasputin dressed up as a woman. Compared to earlier Rasputin movies, one could even prefer Uli Edel's of 1996 with Alan Rickman. The absolutely best Rasputin movie, however, is Elem Klimov's "Agoniya" from 1981, starring an unforgettable Alexei Petrenko.

the great problem is the huge ambition to create a spectacular fresco using a good cast only at level of names. because the story seems unclear, Depardieu fight with a character who has not roots, the aspects of Imperial family's life are presented in superficial manner, all seems be a puzzle with wrong pieces' positions. Depardieu could be a decent Rasputin. but not with the script of that film. Fanny Ardant looking for the most inspired manner to recreate Empress Alexandra 's traits or Mashkov as sketch of Nicholas II are not in the most comfortable position. result - all seems be an improvisation. sketch for use Depardieu in one of his desired roles. after the end of film, only the regrets for the poor actors. and for the poor Rasputin.

it is far to be remarkable and far to be bad. it represents only an introduction, almost decent, to subject. not real convincing but interesting for cast. a tribute for Russia from Depardieu. and its basic unlucky is, maybe, the existence of few real good films about Rasputin, many books and documentaries. so, it could be only expression of good intentions. nothing more. and it is not enough. the bad detail is the absence of courage for director who ignores many opportunities to do an interesting story. than, the manner to create the image of hero by Depardieu who use, in comfortable way, the West clichés about subject. short, a lot pieces without links. images , a not inspired script about a delicate theme , about a dark hero who remains, in this case, unfortunately, only a shadow.