The Rise of Catherine the Great Page #4

Her Majesty must go to bed.

- Where is the grand duke?

- At the ball.

The ball must go on.

Stay here, Catherine.

Deal with these.

- You think I can?

- You can very well.

Your Highness

is looking very happy tonight.

So I ought to be,

with so many friends around me.

All perfectly charming...

and all perfectly new!

Your Highness can scarcely

call me a new friend.

I can scarcely call you a friend

of any kind, my dear prince.

Only last week you practically

ignored my existence.

Oh, no, Your Highness.

Oh, yes.

But last week...

Last week Her Imperial Majesty

had not yet been taken seriously ill.

Ogarev!

Is the grand duke still in the ballroom?

I think His Highness has gone.

Don't try to lie to me, idiot.

Gone?

Just when the weathercocks

are beginning to gather around him?

How many of them are licking his boots

at this moment? Ten, 20, 50?

There are a few gentlemen

around His Highness.

Hmm. He feels he's the czar already...

and he thinks

I'm already in the grave.

The, uh, funeral cortege

of my lamented aunt...

will pass through every

main street in Petersburg.

We'll invite, uh...

Oh, we'll invite everybody.

I'll go and spoil his love scene.

But Your Majesty

must give your heart a rest.

I've never in my life given my heart a rest.

And I'll wear the uniform of, um...

Let's see.

What uniform shall I wear?

Her Majesty!

No, no! Don't stop the dancing.

Why all this ceremony?

Go on. Go on. Play.

How radiant

Your Majesty is looking.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you.

Well, Peter, how are you?

- All right, thanks.

- You look splendid.

It's a wonderful thing

to belong to a healthy family.

My grandmother...

your great-grandmother...

lived to be 86.

And there's no reason

why we shouldn't do the same.

- I'm sure you will.

- It's a great blessing for Russia too.

Instead of waiting anxiously

for his predecessor's death...

the heir to the throne has time to

gather... experience... and to learn...

- To learn patience.

- Patience.

Exactly.

It's a wonderful virtue, Peter.

Shuvalov.

I feel marvelous.

I'm going to dance a minuet.

To take her throat

into my hand and close my fiirgers.

She's laughing at me.

Peter, she can hardly stand.

Ah, she only came here

to make me ridiculous.

- She's very, very ill.

- She'll outlive me... and you.

She'll live a hundred years.

What's that?

- Is it very bad, Grigory?

- Very bad.

Good.

Guard, open that window.

It's cold outside. Why?

To clear the way for death.

He needs an entrance here.

Hi. Black one.

Or white one. Whoever you are.

This way. In here. Welcome.

Your Highness. Peter!

That's all right, Grigory.

She'll die.

- Catherine.

- Yes.

Come here.

- Catherine.

- Yes, darling.

Darling.

Where is that lunatic?

Peter has just been here.

He's very anxious for your recovery.

He's very anxious that I should die.

No.

I am dying, Catherine...

and I leave Russia,

and I leave you...

in the care of a madman.

Oh, no, no. He's not a madman.

You should rule Russia.

Women can rule and men can't.

Is it a sin

that I didn't have him killed?

- No. No, no, no. Please don't.

- He will ruin Russia.

- No.

- He will break you.

No. Please don't.

Please. I beg of you.

You still love him?

Oh.

How can a woman fight

as long as she's in love?

And you must fight.

You or he.

Kill or be killed.

No, no, no.

He'll be good and wise.

Lecocq! Lecocq!

Monsieur Lecocq.

The inscrutable will of providence

is about to deprive us of the empress of Russia...

my beloved aunt.

My most urgent need,

therefore, Monsieur Lecocq...

is a man whose character

is a little below...

and whose intelligence

is far below the average.

A chancellor for the empire?

A bull's-eye, Monsieur Lecocq.

He's a madman.

I wish you didn't love him.

Is it a sin to wish

you didn't love him?

Or is it a sin I haven't blotted him out...

and left you...

to care for Russia?

What is a sin?

Will God forgive my sins?

Will God forgive my sins,

little Catherine?

Yes, he will, darling.

That is why he's God.

He created us

and gave us our frailties...

and our sinful thoughts...

but he is our Father in heaven...

and we are his children.

And like a good father,

he forgives us everything...

our sins and our happiness.

As my chancellor, Vorontzov...

you will immediately prepare several decrees

for the day of... of my coronation.

- What is it?

- Her Majesty may recover.

That's right.

She may.

The ship is sinking all right.

Trust the rats.

She'll die.

New coins, Vorontzov.

I don't like my face very much,

but I don't want to look at hers anymore.

New uniforms for the army.

Everyone back from Siberia whom she expelled,

and everyone to go who had her favor.

Orlov.

Your Majesty.

Waiting for me?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

But I don't need anything...

and I want to be alone.

I know. Still I beg to ask of Your Majesty

to go and see the emperor.

Oh, no.

No.

I can't see anybody now.

I just want to be alone.

His Majesty has just ordered the preparation

of several new decrees.

Yes, I know.

He'll shock public opinion...

but I don't want to interfere.

Not now, Orlov.

He's so suspicious. Not yet.

Entirely innocent people

are to be exiled to Siberia...

only because they were

in favor with the empress.

Shuvalov, Folkonski, the whole family Bestujhev...

Lonisky, father and son,

Kurakin, wife and daughters and grandsons -

Oh, stop, stop!

Let's go.

And we've had quite enough of women.

There'll be no more petticoats

to rule Russia.

And there'll be a law... a law excluding

all women from succession to the throne.

Well, what do you want?

Go on. Get out ofhere!

We're busy doing men's work.

And we don't want any more interference

from women. Go on back to the empress.

She can have another day or two

to put ideas into your head.

And then I shall come...

and you'll go to the kitchen

where you belong.

Now go on. Get out!

I came to tell you

that the empress is dead.

She's dead?

Finished? Finished?

Finished, finished, finished, finished!

Finished!

Long live the emperor.

Look, little Catherine. Look.

See what I've done.

Look. New coins.

New uniforms for the army.

All these people to come back from Siberia.

All these people to go to Siberia.

And then look here. Five new regiments

to be formed on the western frontier.

You are sending these people to Siberia?

Yes.

- All of them.

- Why not have them executed?

Why? They-They-They've committed no crime.

Then why send them to Siberia?

Well, because...

because...

because I'm the czar.

Oh. I see.

That's a very good reason.

And of course you want to please

the crowd in your anteroom.

- You think that'll please them?

- Oh, they'll be delighted.

We won't please the rabble.

There was something.

Something I-I-I wanted to...

Of course. The war.

Grigory, army council

for next Wednesday.

Here's the fiirst army

with the Austrians under General Daun.

It's really a demonstration of force to pin down

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