In the first episode of the HBO mini-series “Catherine the Great,” the empress of Russia is hunched over her desk writing about her political ambitions while her jealous lover stares into a hand mirror, primping for a cross-dressing masquerade at the palace. “It just feels like something has changed between us,” he says, wearing a golden scoop-neck gown, his makeup half-done. Catherine (Helen Mirren) wears a man’s suit with a tricorn hat that makes her look like an American revolutionary. She rises from her desk, strides over to her male companion and, in a few succinct sentences, puts an end to their yearslong romance. But Catherine sees an army of men encircling her, plotting ways to co-opt her authority, and she has no intention of giving it up.

Source: New York Times October 21, 2019 16:41 UTC