Over the past decade, the social sciences have witnessed an upsurge of interest in explorations of memory as it relates to the consolidation of nations, formation of new states and post-conflict reconstruction. In this context, remembrance is a process based on asymmetric power relations: selected collective perceptions of the dominant community are usually promoted, whereas the memories of non-dominant (minority) communities remain marginalised or they are perceived as opposing, even hostile “others”. This article seeks to broaden the prevailing focus in social sciences by employing an interdisciplinary approach to discuss the controversial Russian film Matilda (dir. Alexei Uchitel, 2017), a costume drama about the love affair between the future Tsar Nikolai II and prima ballerina Matilda Feliksovna Kschessinskaya, and its reception in the Russian Federation and elsewhere. The article focuses on the issue of conflict between artistic freedom and the process of remembrance in the formation and consolidation of the nation and, indirectly, the nation-state, whereby film is taken as a tool for (selective) remembrance of history.