Catherine The Great is known to generations of schoolboys as a woman
unusually fond of horses. The stallions take a back seat to equally
unorthodox sexuality in this gorgeously decadent vision of her early
years. Dietrich can't help but be unconvincing as the virginal
innocent of the opening, but comes into her own as soon as she's sucked
into the sexual power games of the Russian Court. With some of the most
elaborate, extravagantly grotesque sets ever filmed, this is a
vicious, voyeuristic delight, like watching scorpions mate, and then
sting each other to death.
