The historical drama set during the Second World War centres on three people whose paths cross: a Russian aristocratic emigrant and member of the French resistance, a French collaborator and a high-ranking German SS officer.
Direction
Konchalovsky shoots in stark black-and-white 35mm Academy ratio.
Acting
Vysotskaya's performance is physically devastating, spiritually transcendent.
Cinematography
Every frame looks excavated from 1943 itself.
Director
Andrei Konchalovsky
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Konchalovsky developed the film for 15 years and self-financed when Russian state funding collapsed; it nearly didn't exist.
The Academy ratio (1.37:1) was Konchalovsky's deliberate choice to evoke Soviet war cinema and physically constrain the viewer's field of vision, mirroring imprisonment.
RU
