He shrieks his curse and the palace cracks apart. Only Anastasia and her dear old gran escape, although they are separated and the little girl is left an orphan in a terrifying land. It's all the devil Rasputin's fault. For although he goes into limbo, pushed under the ice by plucky Anastasia, the great land has fallen under his wicked curse. The world turns dirty grey.
Soft snow becomes cruel and splintery.
Rasputin-lookalikes with tombstone teeth police orphanages or railway stations. Everyone else is a prisoner, made to stand in lines, dreaming of the old days. Everyone breaks into traditional Russian dance. In 1956 Ingrid Bergman played a young woman who, confused and unhappy, so wants to be Anastasia that she comes to believe she is. But then children love chocolate, white bread and unlumpy jam.