For the longest time, there has existed an air of mystery and fascination with the four Grand Duchesses, daughters of the exiled Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra. It was often hypothesised and even warmly romanticised that one or more of the four may have survived in secret, until the confirmation of the DNA evidence on remains finally confirmed the massacre of the family one morning in July of 1918.
As a matter of course, we have relatively little to base any knowledge of what occurred in those final days and weeks while the family was imprisoned in Yekaterinburg. But it’s with some tasteful kindness that Talking Shadows has opted to focus less on the horror and more on the tragic loss of four eager young souls, each as unique and bright as they are at odds with one another.
OTMA (the title suggested by the initials of the four girls' first names) finds the girls, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, languishing in their rooms as they spend their last hours arguing, reminiscing, fantasising and laughing with each other. It’s both a pleasant and melancholic portrayal, with each actress distilling the known aspects of their personalities into a believable person outside the scant details.
There is something a little lacking about the structure, as really there’s not a lot actually happening here. But this isn’t a story so much as it is an elegy. Even as the final moments wind to a chilling but tasteful close, there’s a sense of loss and pointlessness in it all. But one that could, with just a little more narrative, have been twice as powerful.