You know Vladimir Putin the president, judo expert, and KGB veteran. Now, thanks to a new Russian film, meet Putin the lover. The movie, "A Kiss - Not For the Press," marks a rare fictional portrayal of the ultra-secretive Kremlin leader.
Putin is never mentioned by name. But the plot about a man from Saint Petersburg who, like Putin, speaks German, has a secretive job, marries a stewardess, has two daughters, and becomes president, leaves no doubt.
"What is he like in life and in the family? What is in his soul? Will he have room left in his heart for love?" asks the film's glossy publicity brochure. The answer to that last question is yes, with Putin showing the kinder, gentler side to the icy statesman portrayed on Russia's dreary state television programmes.
"Mama, he's a normal man," says the hero's wife, played by Darya Mikhailova, who manages a passing resemblance to Putin's wife Lyudmila, in a clip shown to journalists Tuesday in Moscow.
"I'm scared for you," the Putin character, played by similarly light-haired actor Andrei Panin, tells his beloved. "And I'm scared without you," she replies against a background of syrupy music. Little is known about the real Putin's personal life in comparison to that of other world leaders. The 55-year-old, who must step down at the end of his second term after a March 2 election, remains by far the most popular and powerful man in the country.
However, Putin rose to the top of Russia's political heap eight years ago largely without having to be exposed to media probing and public scrutiny. Even now his wife seldom appears in public, while the identity of his daughters Maria and Yekaterina is guarded so closely that almost no photographs of them as grown-ups have been published.
"Kiss" promises to break that taboo in spades. "You want to know if there are erotic scenes?" producer Anatoly Voropayev asked journalists. "Well, there are no bedroom scenes." "There are!" interrupted the actress Mikhailova.
Actors and producers were defensive about the film's odd history. "Kiss" was in fact completed in 2003 and a source close to Russian state television suggested that Kremlin interference prevented immediate release.
Questions have also been raised over why the movie is being shown only on DVD, starting February 14, and not in cinemas. Voropayev testily denied any intrigue, saying that personal reasons were behind the film's delayed release and that the decision to go straight to DVD was based on commercial logic.
However Voropyaev did admit to entering difficult territory with the film. He said he was sure to be accused of "(a) a personality cult, (b) of working at the behest of some kind of forces, and (c) of following government orders."
"Already people are saying that this is practically a cult of personality," he complained. "But we believe our society has got to the point where it can appreciate" the film.
Andrei Kolesnikov, veteran Kremlin correspondent for the Kommersant daily, told AFP that Putin is unlikely to be a fan. "They have a negative view of such films in the Kremlin. They see it as forming a cult of personality and that honour is something reserved exclusively for television," he said.
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