Assassin of the Tsar Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Assassin of the Tsar Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 27, 2023

Trivia lovers with a penchant for political intrigue have often cited the rather peculiar parallels between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, two American Presidents who met their fates at the hands of assassins. While there are numerous data points that do not line up between the two legendary leaders, those who argue for some kind of uncoincidental alignment point to the fact that both men were first elected to Congress in years ending in 46, both were elected President in years ending in 60, both had Vice Presidents named Johnson who ascended to the Presidency after the assassinations, both men had surnames with seven letters, both were killed on Fridays, and both were killed by assassins with three names. (One of the more notable supposed factoids, that Lincoln had a personal secretary named Kennedy, and that Kennedy had a personal secretary named Lincoln, is only half true, with regard to the later President.) While it doesn't "add up" to the same volume of "coincidence", there's a somewhat curious numerological tether between two famous Russian assassinations, in that the killing of Tsar Alexander II happened in a year ending in 81, and the killing of his grandson Tsar Nicholas II happened in a year ending in 18, a kind of mirror image that in fact is not the only reflective aspect between the two murders, as The Assassin of the Tsar at least intermittently alludes to.

As commentator Samm Deighan points out in her analysis of the film, The Assassin of the Tsar was one of the last Mosfilm productions during the actual Soviet Era, and it's kind of interesting to view the film within that context. The Soviet regime wasn't especially "open" about the fate of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, at least until the prying eyes of perestroika were able to peel back some of the layers of obfuscation and outright misdirection that had attended the killings. If the assassination of Tsar Alexander II didn't raise the same amount of "concern" from the Soviets, the fact that this film goes into rather substantial detail about the murders of the royal family in 1918 is in and of itself kind of remarkable in a way.

While perhaps subliminal, there are some other rather interesting things about The Assassin of the Tsar from a "late Soviet" perspective. Pay attention to how dowdy and downright shabby some of the surroundings are, albeit admittedly due in part to the fact that a lot of the film takes place in a mental institution. But this is not a gleaming Stalinist edifice, but what looks like a dilapidated old Russian Orthodox church with peeling painting. And even the fact that a lot of the film takes place in a mental institution would seem to argue against the Communist ideal that "groupthink" eliminates any and all anxieties.

The main gist of a somewhat mysterious plot is that an inmate at the institution named Timofyev (Malcolm McDowell) has been suffering from the delusion that he is the culprit who offed not one, but two, Russian Tsars. He slips into and out of the supposed identity of real life historical figure Yakov Yurovsky, the man typically "credited" with having shot Nicholas II and probably some of the others of the royal family, but in Timofyev's roiling psyche, he's also responsible for the bombing execution of Tsar Alexander II. A newly appointed psychiatrist named Dr. Smirnov (Oleg Yankovsky) becomes fascinated by Timofyev, and decides to "slip into" Timofev's alternate reality, becoming Tsar Nicholas II himself.

I was frankly half expecting this film to pull an opiate (so to speak) from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and reveal that an increasingly addled Smirnov has actually been the crazy one all along, but without posting outright spoilers, that's really not the direction this film takes. Instead, it's almost as if co-writer and director Karen Shakhnazarov wants to utilize the character of Timofyev as a scapegoat to expiate any sins felt (sorry to pun) collectively by Soviet revolutionaries, but even that aspect seems to be a bit of subterfuge undercutting a comment on one of the supplements on this disc that the Soviets always wanted to meet any traumas (self inflicted or otherwise) head on.

Assassin of the Tsar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Assassin of the Tsar is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Deaf Crocodile Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Deaf Crocodile's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

New 2K restorations from the original 35mm picture and sound elements by Mosfilm. The Assassin of the Tsar was shot in both English and Russian language versions using separate 35mm negatives for each. The English language version features Malcolm McDowell's original voice; the Russian cast members learned their line phonetically in English and were post dubbed. For the Russian langue version, McDowell spoke his lines in English and was poste dubbed in Russian. The tow versions have slightly different edits and running times, and the Russian language version ah a different score.

A bit more information is offered on the back cover with a listing that the Blu-ray was authored by David Mackenzie of Fidelity in Motion. This is a really gorgeous looking transfer that preserves a really organic appearance and a solid accounting of a somewhat cool, slate gray to blue tinged, palette. Detail levels are typically excellent throughout, aided by Shakhnazarov's penchant for close-ups. A brief black and white "flashback" to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II is intentionally distressed and blown out, and so understandably doesn't offer the same levels of detail as the bulk of the presentation. There are some stylistic bells and whistles employed as both Timofyev and Smirnov go down the rabbit hole of the last days of the Romanovs circa 1917 and 1918 that can lead to passing moments of softness. I noticed no compression issues. The Russian language version looked interchangeable with the English language version to my eyes.

Assassin of the Tsar Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Assassin of the Tsar features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. This is a dialogue heavy film, and in fact features quite a bit of quasi-narration and/or voiceover, and as such there really isn't extremely wide imaging at any time. The English language version's score has a kind of (Grimm's) fairy tale feel to it, and in fact kind of traces out the same Lydian mode melody that Elmer Bernstein used so memorably in To Kill a Mockingbird. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Assassin of the Tsar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• New commentary track by film writer and historian Samm Deighan


• New interview with star Malcolm McDowell (HD; 54:35) is a Zoom like affair conducted by Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile Films. This is a frequently fascinating conversation and McDowell seems eager to improve the film's general lack of renown.


• New interview with director Karen Shakhnarazov (HD; 1:08:16) is another Zoom like conversation moderated by Dennis Bartok, with a little help from interpreter and translator Elena Tazetdinova.


• Russian Language Version of film with different edit and score (HD; 1:42:33) runs just a bit shorter than the international version (1:44:45). I personally preferred the score in the other version to the one in this one.

Additionally, a nicely appointed insert booklet features an interesting essay by Walter Chaw. Our database states the original pressing came with a slipcover, but the review copy sent to me did not have one.

Assassin of the Tsar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In his interview included on this disc as a bonus item, Malcolm McDowell kind of laments the fact that The Assassin of the Tsar is still largely unknown to this day, and the film certainly deserves to be better recognized. Some of the film's tangents don't quite hold together (a departing psychiatrist's kind of smarmy sexualized reaction to Smirnov's girlfriend is one example), and I'm not sure the film ever ends up making any big "statements" other than offering some intriguing "alternative facts" as to a couple of notable disruptions in Russia's political history, but McDowell is fantastic, and the supporting cast is typically quite effective as well. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.