Alexander Pushkin was the Shakespeare of Imperial Russia, and stands today as one Russia’s greatest poets, playwrights, and writers. Pushkin died in 1837, the result of a duel with Baron Georges d’Anthès, fought over the attentions of Pushkin’s beautiful but cold wife, Natalya. Based on a true segment of history, this story takes the premise that Pushkin set up the duel to serve as the framework for his own suicide. He was depressed, cuckolded, deeply in debt, severely insecure about his appearance, and blocked. But suicide would have been the cowardly (not to mention illegal) way to end a publicly celebrated life he no longer felt was worth living; at the time duels were considered gentlemanly acts of honour. The undercurrent of the film explores why suicide was and is seen as the final act of selfishness, when it is, in reality, our right.
