Adorable Sinner

Who can go through this movie without being charmed by the character of Katia (Romy Schneider)? From her teenage days in a school for poor noble young ladies to her near accession to the throne of Russia, she showed utter and complete love and devotion for the Tsar Alexander II.

What is particularly well depicted in this movie is the waiting. Katia and Alexander spend hours, days, years sometimes, waiting to see each other again. And each second of waiting renders their love stronger. The whole movie is based on some kind of patience/impatience duality. Alexander begs Katia to be patient but the terrorists feel anything but patience against the regime. They want reform now, they want the tsar out, with everything he represents, now. They are a light of impatience in a country that is still trapped in laws and traditions of the middle ages.