The Assassin of the Tsar

The Assassin of the Tsar (Цареубийца) is a 1991 Soviet historical drama film, starring Malcolm McDowell and Oleg Yankovsky. It was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. There are two versions. One is filmed in English which later was dubbed over the Russian actors, and one in Russian. Malcolm McDowell pretended to speak Russian in the other version and was later dubbed.

Plot
Timofeyev (Malcolm McDowell) is a patient in an asylum who claims to be the man who killed Tsar Alexander II in 1881, and his grandson Tsar Nicholas II in 1918. Doctor Smirnov (Oleg Yankovsky) decides to apply a peculiar therapeutic method on him, but things go in an unexpected way.

A good portion of the film depicts the last days of the Russian Imperial Family in Yekaterinburg, largely narrated by Timofyev's voice-over from the perspective of Yakov Yurovsky, the chief guard and ultimately executioner of the family. In the scenes, Yurovsky is impersonated by Timofyev (McDowell) and Tsar Nicholas II by Dr. Smirnov (Yankovsky). Other members of the family function merely as background, with few or no lines.

Cast

 * Oleg Yankovsky — Dr.Smirnov / Tsar Nicholas II
 * Malcolm McDowell — Timofeyev / Yakov Yurovsky
 * Armen Dzhigarkhanyan — Alexander Yegorovich, Smirnov's superior
 * Olga Antonova — Empress Alexandra
 * Dariya Majorova — Olga Nikolaevna
 * Evgeniya Kryukova — Tatiana Nikolaevna
 * Alyona Teremizova — Maria Nikolaevna
 * Olga Borisova — Anastasia Nikolaevna
 * Aleksei Logunov — Alexei Nikolaevich
 * Yury Belyayev — Alexander II of Russia
 * Anastasiya Nemolyaeva — nurse
 * Anzhelika Ptashuk — Marina, Smirnov's mate