The film is based on the facts of Russian history – the court conspiracy and the assassination of the Russian emperor Paul I in March 1801.
         Paul dreamed to reform his empire in a European way but the favorites resisted his reform.
         Genenral-governor of St.Petersburg count von Palen betrayed his ruler, a man with romantic ideals and meditation who had been called “Russian Hamlet”.
         Paul I was strangled in Michailovsky Palace and his son Alexander was crowned as a new emperor of Russia.
   POOR POOR PAUL
 

Color, dolby, 102 min
Lenfilm studios production, 2003

Written and directed - Vitaly Melnikov
Director of photography - Sergey Astakhov
Art director - Alexander Zagoskin
Costume designer - Larisa Konnikova
Music - Andrei Petrov

Cast:
Victor Sukhorukov as Paul
Oleg Yankovsky as count von Palen
Julia Mavrina, Aleksey Barabash, Oksana Mysina, Vadim Lobanov, Anna Molchanova