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Bad sex and fake fur: Russians trash Netflix's 'The Last Czars'

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Agence France-Presse

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C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzi8FU5HGGl/" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"> </div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzi8FU5HGGl/" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by The Last Czars (@thelastczars)</a> on <time dateTime="2019-07-05T18:56:32+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jul 5, 2019 at 11:56am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>MOSCOW -- From awkward sex scenes to cheap-looking robes and a shot of Red Square in 1905 with the Lenin Mausoleum already in place, Russians have found plenty to criticise in Netflix&#x27;s new series &quot;The Last Czars.&quot;</p><p>&quot;What&#x27;s wrong with Netflix&#x27;s &#x27;The Last Czars&#x27;? Spoiler: everything,&quot; wrote news site Fontanka, based in the imperial capital Saint Peterburg.</p><p>The series, which launched this month, tells the story of Nicholas II&#x27;s ill-fated reign. In an unusual move, it alternates acted scenes with talking head explanations from British and US academics and popular historians.</p><p>The focus is on the role of Grigory Rasputin, the holy man who convinced Tsar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra that he could heal their hemophiliac son and heir Alexei.</p><p>The series -- aimed at viewers without special knowledge of the period -- was never likely to please Russians, who often pick holes in Western dramatizations of their history and literature.</p><p>A noticeable exception was HBO&#x27;s &quot;Chernobyl&quot; series earlier this year, which was warmly received by Russians and praised for attention to detail. </p><p>In &quot;The Last Czars,&quot; journalists singled out for mockery a title with the date 1905 and a photo of Red Square with the mausoleum erected after Lenin&#x27;s 1924 death already in situ.</p><p>This sparked a host of internet memes with the date imposed on pictures of modern Russia.</p><p>In another error, the Kremlin walls are shown as red but were actually whitewashed at the time.</p><p>&quot;After such things, it&#x27;s very hard to take the show seriously,&quot; wrote newspaper Argumenty i Fakty.</p><div><strong>Presented &#x27;myths as truths&#x27;</strong></div><p>Lengthy sex scenes showing the royal couple also had Russians cringing. </p><p>On their wedding night, the topless tsarina tells the tsar as they make love that &quot;you need to be strong. You&#x27;re the tsar, the master of the land.&quot;</p><p>Journalist Fyodor Krasheninnikov on Facebook criticized another &quot;disgusting scene&quot; where the tsarina prays out loud for a son while making love.</p><p>&quot;The series will only please people who wanted to see the tsarina naked,&quot; wrote Argumenty i Fakty.</p><p>In other errors, footage of an Armenian monastery is used for a monastery in the Urals that Rasputin visited, TV Rain independent channel reported.</p><p>&quot;To be honest, I&#x27;m disappointed,&quot; journalist Yevgeniya Zobnina said on TV Rain. &quot;Because after the huge success of &#x27;Chernobyl&#x27;... it seemed we would see something similar.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s like the series gathered together all the myths about the tsar&#x27;s court of that time and presented them as convincing truth.&quot;</p><p>Russian media criticized what they called the cheap look of the show, given that its subject is a hugely wealthy dynasty that lavished vast sums on pomp and ceremony and ornate trinkets such as Faberge eggs.</p><p>In the coronation scene, the ermine trimming of robes worn by Nicholas and Alexandra appears to be synthetic fur, Fontanka complained. </p><p>&quot;Rugs from Ikea would look better.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Some of the jewelled ornaments that cost millions look like cheap costume jewellery,&quot; wrote the website of 5TV channel, while conceding that officers&#x27; uniforms and courtiers&#x27; clothes in later scenes looked &quot;believable.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>From awkward sex scenes to cheap-looking robes and a shot of Red Square in 1905 with the Lenin Mausoleum already in place, Russians have found plenty to criticise in Netflix's new series "The Last Czars."</p>

From awkward sex scenes to cheap-looking robes and a shot of Red Square in 1905 with the Lenin Mausoleum already in place, Russians have found plenty to criticise in Netflix's new series "The Last Czars."