Nicolas et Alexandra (1971)

Partager la citation sur facebook [On his newborn son] The boy will bring us luck. We will smash the Japanese and kick them out of Korea, and I do not care the cost! I have a son to fight for now.

Partager la citation sur facebook No fact begins with if.

Partager la citation sur facebook The English have a parliament. Our British cousins gave their rights away; the Hapsburgs, and the Hohenzollerns, too. The Romanovs will not. What I was given, I will give my son.

Partager la citation sur facebook [Touring Russia by railroad in honor of the Tricentennial of the House of Romanov] I did not want to do this tour. But God, I so love it when they stand and wave!

Partager la citation sur facebook [Signing his abdication papers] March 15, 1917. The Ides of March.

Partager la citation sur facebook Imagine, sire, imagine that you are a factory worker. You're really poor. Your belly is never full. You freeze eight months of the year. Your children have no school, no doctor. Your country taxes you and sends your sons a continent away to die on a piece of land on the Pacific. Now sir, Japan is a third-rate power. If she defeats us, if Port Arthur falls, we shall be disgraced in the eyes of the world and here at home we shall have an insurrection on our hands.

Partager la citation sur facebook [Begging the Tsar to stay out of World War One] We can't run a modern war, sir. We're not fighting Napoleon this time! Germany has ten miles of railway to every one of ours and they have a hundred factories for every one of ours. All we have is men! We'll be slaughtered like flies!

Partager la citation sur facebook [Continuing to plead to the Tsar to stay out of World War One] I'm old, sir. I've seen so many wars. They all seemed so important at the time. Now I don't even remember what they were called. Millions of dead men. I don't know why. Nobody knows. You could so easily stop this war, sir. All you have to do is get up. Now, quietly go home to your family. You'd be the greatest of all the tsars.

Partager la citation sur facebook None if you will be here when this war ends. Everything we've fought for will be lost. Everything we've loved will be broken. The victors will be as cursed as the defeated. The world will grow old and men will wander about lost in the ruins and go mad. Tradition, virtue, restraint, they'll all go. I'm not mourning for myself, but for the people who will come after me. They will live without hope. And all they will have will be guilt, revenge, and terror, and the world will be full of fanatics and trivial fools.

Partager la citation sur facebook [Admiring a big-busted woman] So, you would like to be an opera singer? Yes, you have the chest for it.

Partager la citation sur facebook You must understand that you are free to say whatever you like. You must also understand that I am free to shoot you for saying it.

Partager la citation sur facebook I speak, nobody pays attention. I write, nobody reads it. I am out of style, nobody is wearing me this season. I mean, three hundred years of Romanovs. What is not to say there will not be 300 more?

Partager la citation sur facebook The Tsar is here in Saint Petersburg to bless the troops. He is staying at the Winter Palace. This Sunday, hundreds of us will walk to the palace in a peaceful parade. I will meet him on the balcony and read this: "Your Majesty, we, the working men and women of Saint Petersburg, come to you seeking justice and protection. Only you can hear our grievances. If you do not help us, we will stay here and die, right in this very courtyard."

Partager la citation sur facebook [Explaining the logistics of the Russo-Japanese War] Well Nicky, let me put it this way. Presents a bullet This is a bullet, munitioned in Saint Petersburg. I send it off to war. How does it get there? On a single spur of railroad track four thousand miles long. And in the middle, no track at all. God help us, it spends three days packed on sleds. This works the same way for every pair of boots, first aid kit, or pound of tea we send. Get out now, Nicky. While there is time.

Partager la citation sur facebook [Speaking to the Tsar about the First World War] I could have won this war if I only had to confront one enemy in front of me, the Germans. But I had two enemies behind my back, your wife and her monk! You know, Rasputin actually wrote to me asking if he could come to the front lines to bless the troops. I replied that if he ever showed his face we would hang him on sight! I was an idiot to say that; should have let him come, we would have hung the bastard once he got here!

Partager la citation sur facebook They won't last a week. We'll bury the German army and that little pansy of a Kaiser and be home in time for Christmas!

Partager la citation sur facebook You ministers never cease to amaze me. You think you are in control, but you are going to be swept away just like us princes.

Partager la citation sur facebook Do you like this scarf? Have it. [gives scarf to Rasputin] I am throwing a little soiree on Thursday, why not come? I cannot stop the revolution, but until it comes, let us have some fun. Even if it is only for a few more days.

Partager la citation sur facebook Opening scene. The Tsaritsa is in labor as Dr. Botkin tends to her. The Tsar is waiting anxiously that the pregnancy is without issue
Count Fredericks: Great news!
Tsar Nicholas II: Is it a son?
Count Fredericks: Yes! Eight pounds.
Tsar Nicholas II: And Sunny, is she all right.
Count Fredericks: Indeed, Your Majesty. Shall I make the announcement?
Tsar nods and Count Fredericks departs. Tsar is tearing up with joy
Tsar Nicholas II{talking to himself}: It is incredible, I have a son!

Partager la citation sur facebook Rasputin: Batushka Tsar.
[Rasputin bows to the Tsar, who nods his head in return]
Rasputin: Matushka, why are you afraid?
Tsaritsa Alexandra: Why am I what?!
Rasputin: I think you are frightened. Strangers frighten you. There was a case back in Pokrovskoe. That is my home; it is a little village in Siberia. There was a woman who was so frightened of strangers that she bought herself a pinewood box and lived in it. One day her husband buried the box with her in it. "Ivan, don't!", she cried. Her husband responded "I only want to make you happy". She said "I know, I know. But Heaven is full of strangers. Let me out!"

Partager la citation sur facebook [Textile factory. Petya, a peasant man, leads Father Gapon down the steps]
Petya: This way, Father, please hurry!
Sonya: It is too late, Petya. She is dead.
[Petya looks in sorrow to see his mother has expired while Father Gapon gives his now-deceased mother Extreme Unction]
Petya: My mother spent her whole life here. She was born in this factory, grew up here, took her classes here, played here, got married here. I was born, Father died, I got married here and had children. And now it is all over for her. The other people here just keep on working. Well, I cannot blame them. They have to work to feed their families. [pauses momentarily] Father, I have a confession to make. I want to kill somebody. The other factory workers come visit me some time. They tell me we ought to make bombs, blow things up. Well, I want to fight back for once!
Father Gapon: The only thing violence produces is more violence. They will beat you and throw you in jail. There is a better way. We will go to see the Tsar with our grievances.
Sonya: You know the saying, Father: God is too high and the Tsar is too far away.

Partager la citation sur facebook Tsar Nicholas II: What you have done for the Empire in the years since Witte retired has been nothing short of a miracle.
Prime Minister Stolypin: I am not the one holding Russia together, you are! Here are the plans for the Tricentennial Tour across all of Russia. The tour is going to be long and taxing, but it is important that the people see that the dynasty is permanent and strong.
Tsar Nicholas II: Anything else?
Prime Minister Stolypin: I have these as well. Stolypin produces a dossier Police reports about Grigori Efifvomitch Rasputin. Drunk half the time. Carousing with women all throughout Saint Petersburg. Whores, officer's wives, you name it. I was also shown these.
Stolypin shows Tsar anti-monarchy cartoons. One depicts a topless Tsaritsa and another shows the Tsar and Tsaritsa sitting in Rasputin's lap
Tsar Nicholas II: Damn it, what is wrong with the Ohkrana? Can't 10,000 secret agents find a printing press?
[Tsar crumples up cartoons and throws them into the Black Sea]
Prime Minister Stolypin: It is a network. The agents cannot find them all. You need to send Rasputin back to Pokrovskoe, or at least somewhere away from Petersburg. They are talking about it in the Duma.
Tsar Nicholas II: Damn that Witte! He made me give a parliament to the people.
Prime Minister Stolypin: I do not like the Duma any more than you do but it is better for the commoners to feel they have a voice in government instead of being wooed by the rebels. Still, people are wondering why you invite Rasputin to be around your family.
Tsar Nicholas II: You know why.
Prime Minister Stolypin: I do, but the people do not!

Partager la citation sur facebook Tsar Nicholas II: So the concern is they don't understand Rasputin. You say I should do something to clear the air, sure. How about this for the announcement: "Citizens, your Tsarevitch could have a nosebleed and die from it!"
Prime Minister Stolypin: You have got to banish Rasputin, I cannot control the situation if you do not! People think he goes to bed with your wife and daughters, of all nasty rumors!
Tsar Nicholas II: The problem is if I kick out Rasputin what will happen for...
Tsaritsa Alexandra: Alexei!
[Tsar's family and Prime Minister Stolypin watch in horror as Alexei decides to climb a sea mount. Nagorny, a sailor in the Russian Navy has been assigned as Alexei's bodyguard, climbs sea mount after him. Alexei slips and falls but is grabbed by Nagorny in a bear hug]
Nagorny: Your Majesty, are you all right?
Tsarevitch Alexei: I am all right Nagorny, you caught me. You will always be there for me.

Partager la citation sur facebook Tsar Nicholas II: My decision stands. I have seen your conduct in public. I have read the reports. I am seeing you as a matter of courtesy, the same as I would for any of my ministers or like members of court. If you have come to plead...
Grigori Rasputin: I have come to say goodbye.
Tsar is somewhat taken aback that Rasputin wants to leave of his own volition
Grigori Rasputin: I don't like Saint Petersburg. It makes me drink. And when I drink, the women come on to me. I know these peasant women but in Petersburg, whew! I am homesick for Pokrovskoe. Is Matushka upset with me?
Tsar Nicholas II: She will not so much admit you take a drink, let alone...No.
Grigori Rasputin: She is a saint. If you need me while I am gone, just pretend that I am there. I only sit and listen anyway.

Partager la citation sur facebook [Following the assassination of Prime Minister Stolypin, a wave of police brutality occurs. Petya the factory worker is chased away after it is shown he has anti-monarchist cartoons under his bed. Scene changes to the Duma, where policemen are standing by to usher out the Duma members as the Tsar has ordered it dissolved]
Alexander Kerensky: Tell the Tsar that he can close this building, but he cannot silence the voice of the Russian commoners!
Members of the Duma [in unison]: Hear, hear!
Duma President: Mr. Kerensky, I have the floor. You are not to speak out of turn!
Alexander Kerensky: The Duma is not a street corner. We are not rebels and bombmakers. Most of us want a system similar to the English way. Let there be a Tsar. But let there also be the rule of law and reprenstative government as well. Bring the Tsar to us and let him be told that.
Members of the Duma [in unison]: Hear, hear!
Duma President: The Tsar is not here right now. He is at his hunting lodge in Poland.
Alexander Kerensky: I do not care if he is in Scotland shooting wild grouse! If he is not here, then go to the Tsar and tell him that by dissolving the Duma, he is bringing ruin on his head and emboldening the rebels. Tell him now! Tell him, while there is a Tsar still left to tell!

Partager la citation sur facebook [Siberia. Rasputin is in his native village of Pokrovskoe. He is riding on a horse guzzling liquor straight from the bottle when he approaches three attractive peasant girls shoveling hay. A wagon full of hay bales lumbers down the road near a walking nun]
Nun: Good day, and may the Lord be with you.
[Rasputin emerges nude from the hay bales, still chugging his bottle of booze but now accompanied by the three peasant girls who are now topless]
Rasputin: And the Lord be with you! [laughs]
[The nun frantically crosses herself at seeing such a vulgar sight]

Partager la citation sur facebook [War plans have been made and flag officers are cracking open champagne and partying, supremely confident in their short victory over the Central Powers]
Colonel Volkov: This one cannot get to the colors fast enough!
[Partying is momentarily halted when the Tsar enters room. The flag officers stand at attention]
Grand Duke Nicholas: Your Majesty, may I present the head of the Foreign Ministry, Minister Sazarov.
Minister Sazarov: Gentlemen, at ten past seven, Germany declared war on Russia.
Tsar Nicholas II: May God save Russia!
Flag officers [in unison]: God save the Tsar!

Partager la citation sur facebook [First World War. Colonel Volkov is reviewing the Imperial Army, which has in its ranks every man it can acquire, from teenage boys barely finishing adolesence to white-bearded old men. Colonel Volkov's mood is significantly less cocky from the 1914 party when he believed it would be a short war]
Colonel Volkov: The men have orders to be at the front lines by tonight. Do we have any horses or motor transport?
Russian Major: No, sir. None are available.
Colonel Volkov: Very well, they have to walk.
Russian Major: Right face!
[Russian soldiers turn to their right]
Russian Major: Forward march!
[The Major leads the soldiers in march towards combat zone. Colonel Volkov walks in opposite direction and reclines under a tree. He takes one last look at the sky as he unholsters his pistol, sticks it in his mouth, then squeezes the trigger]

Partager la citation sur facebook [Members of the Duma are applauding and patting each other on the back to celebrate Rasputin's death]
Duma Member #1: The beast is dead!
Duma Member #2: His killers are heroes!
Duma Member #3: Russia is saved!
[The only members not hooting are Alexander Kerensky and another unnamed member, both of whom roll their eyes and give the impression of "don't party just yet". The ribaldry dies down and the Duma returns to talking shop. Kerensky has the floor]
Alexander Kerensky: One madman has been eliminated and you guys are dancing in the aisles! The German Tsaritsa is still running the country. The Central Powers have been winning victory after victory. The Army is in disarray. One-third of our soldiers go without food, medicine or boots. Entire battalions are defecting! Agricultural production has been sapped and civilians lack meals. The Tsar needs to stop hiding with his troops at the front lines and get back to Saint Petersburg where he belongs. Chaos is coming to Russia, and he needs to be here to deal with it!

Partager la citation sur facebook General Alexiev: Your Majesty, I have an urgent communique. A riot in Saint Petersburg!
Tsar Nicholas II: Riot? This cannot be, we are at war! This must be some joke!
General Alexiev: No joke, sire. Workers are on strike and people are raiding warehouses. The Army refuses to open fire on them.
Tsar Nicholas II: Telegraph this to the Military Governor. All riots are to be stopped at once. Martial law is to be declared. The Duma is to be dissolved. I return to Saint Petersburg immediately.
General Alexiev: I only hope there is someone in Saint Petersburg to read our orders.

Partager la citation sur facebook [The Tsar is having coffee with a medical officer; contemplating abdication]
Tsar Nicholas II: Tell me, Dr. Federov, if my son, as the future Tsar, were to stay behind to be educated in Russia while my family traveled abroad, how much longer would he be likely to live?
Doctor Federov: Deprived of your love and care, it is hard to say. There are no real statistics on this. It is a matter of luck and chance, Your Majesty. One could hope he could live a long and normal life, as we do for everyone. However, given my speculation on his medical issues, I would say...twenty would be a good age.

Partager la citation sur facebook British Ambassador to Russia: Is Russia committed to the war effort?
Alexander Kerensky: Indeed.
French Ambassador to Russia: There is talk about Russians demanding Russia's withdrawal from the war.
Alexander Kerensky: That is the mostly the Bolsheviks. But do not worry about that; the Bolsheviks only have six seats in the Duma, nobody takes them seriously.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia: Washington is prepared to grant a loan of several hundred million rubles to aid your fledling government, but that is contingent upon Russia's military involvement. No war, no loan.
[Kerensky is annoyed by the use of American taxpayers' money to sway Russian opinion]
Alexander Kerensky: You cannot buy Russia! We will fight! But not to get your tax money. We have lost so much already.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia: If I were you, I would put this Lenin quietly in jail.
Alexander Kerensky: I cannot do that just because there has been a bad history in Russia about that sort of thing. It is has been far too easy for the leaders to throw people in jail.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia: I have read his speeches. Surely you have to.
Alexander Kerensky: I cannot throw a man in jail for what he thinks! Of all the people of the world, you Americans should understand that best! It is in your Bill of Rights.
U.S. Ambassador to Russia: Lenin wants to overthrow the government by force. We Americans call that treason.

Partager la citation sur facebook [Royal family is being prepared for their exile into Siberia]
Grand Duchess Marie: Look! I found Tobolsk on the map!
Count Fredericks: Now remember, girls, you are princesses. You are to carry yourselves as such at all times. If I hear of any misbehavior, I shall be deeply upset.
Grand Duchess Tatiana: Do not worry, Vladimir, we will be good.
[Count Fredericks tries to put on a brave face as he is aware of the possible final fate of the Romanovs. The Tsar's daughters give him a group hug]
Count Fredericks: Help Mama and Papa.
Alexander Kerensky: I have assigned Colonel Koblinsky to watch over you until I can arrange for a way to safely exile you. His orders carry all the weight of mine.
Tsaritsa Alexandra: Nicky, this is horrible! I want my clothes, I want my cosmetics, I want my jewelry!
[The Tsar holds his wife and admonishes her to be strong]
Tsar Nicholas II: Dear, those are only things. Things get broken, they get mislaid, they get dusty. The important fact is we have each other.
Alexander Kerensky: Frau Romanova, you have kept your head. I recommend you show gratitude for that.

Partager la citation sur facebook [German Embassy to Switzerland. Lenin, who is handcuffed to a chair, is being interrogated by a German consul, who is reading a dossier]
German Consul: Ah, let us see. Name: Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. Born in Simbirsk in 1870. Attended the University of Kazan but was expelled for participating in anti-monarchist protests. Older brother hanged in 1887 for the attempted assination of the present Tsar's father. Married, no children. Does not smoke, and does not allow his colleagues to smoke either.
[The Consul blows a ring of cigar smoke in Lenin's face]
Lenin: The Tsar should have had your secret police. My party will make a study of your methods.
German Consul: This dossier failed to mention your sense of humor. Let us stop and think of the absurdity of your idea. You want the German government, which is at war with Russia, to smuggle you into your native country which banished you, because you claim you can single-handedly end the war?
Lenin: My government will immediately make peace with Berlin.
German Consul: I never knew you had so much authority.
Lenin: There is power just lying in the streets, up for grabs! Kerensky won't last, he is too busy continuing Russian involvement in the war and the people are desperate for peace! I shall give them peace. With Germany finished with the Eastern Front do you know how many regiments you could transfer to the Western Front?
German Consul: And now you are asking me for classified information. A Marxist wanting to use the Kaiser? Are you aware that Germany has locked up more Bolsheviks than any other country in the world? But then again, war causes strange alliances. Perhaps the Kaiser...could use a Marxist.

Partager la citation sur facebook Tsarevitch Alexei: Why did you abdicate for me? You never asked!
Tsar Nicholas II: I did not want you to have to pay for my mistakes.
Tsarevitch Alexei: Am I not paying for them now? Are not we all?

Partager la citation sur facebook [October Revolution. Bolsheviks make plans to capture infrastructure and government buildings. Kerensky and his staff are trapped inside their boardroom]
Alexander Kerensky: They captured the police station? Exactly how powerful are the Bolsheviks?
Government Official: Quite. We made a serious mistake in heeding our allies and continuing the war. The citizenry wanted out of this war. Lenin offered them peace.
Alexander Kerensky: What would it require to smash them?
General Alexiev: One battalion, sir. But I do not know if I have that many soldiers. At least not ones I can trust.
Russian Lieutenant: Look out the window!
[Provisional Government peers out window to a nearby naval base where a cruiser is shining its lights directly on their building]
Russian Lieutenant: The cruiser Aurora. And she has her guns aimed directly at us!

Partager la citation sur facebook [Duma. It is now entirely full of Bolsheviks and has been renamed the Politburo]
Lenin: The Provisional Government has fallen! We now have power! At long last, we will build our new world order.
[Freeze frame as Lenin's face changes into a bust and the Soviet anthem plays]

Partager la citation sur facebook [Tobolsk. It is a bleak winter even during Easter]
Colonel Koblinksy: Do you realize I am a military officer representative of a nonexistant government? Kerensky is gone; the Americans were able to smuggle him into exile. Lenin kissed up to Germany by giving away land and gold to get out of the war; now he has another war on his hands.
Tsar Nicholas II: I have not heard much of wars these days.
Colonel Koblinsky: The Bolsheviks are being threatened with civil war. They just commissioned the Red Army to defend their newly-seized power. Challenging them is the White Army. Mensheviks, Radicals, anarchists, Monarchists, they are all in the fight.
Tsar Nicholas II: Will you join up?
Colonel Koblinsky: My fighting days are over. Whatever side I join; I will kill Russians. Too haunting for me. I will just look after this spot of land. Do you have any money?
Tsar Nicholas II: Not much, why do you ask?
Colonel Koblinksy: Soldiers have been unpaid; the stead is in need of upgrades.
Tsar Nicholas II: The prisoners keep the guard? [chuckling] I should have nominated you as my Minister of Finance; you would have revolutionized the penal system!