The film was shot in Murmansk and the village of Teriberka, chosen for their pristine, untouched and highly unusual beauty. Zvyagintsev was looking for a "backwater little town"; the film crew visited Vladimir, Pskov, Astrakhan, and even went to Belarus, but ultimately chose the Kola Peninsula as the filming location. In Murmansk, they found the necessary buildings for hotels, administrations, and police stations, which look decent but rather worn and somewhat provincial. The house where the main character lived was not preserved – this was required by the film's plot. However, the artificial whale skeleton remained as a monument after filming, and local authorities improved the area around it.

Filming Locations:

Nikolai's House

In the Movie

Scene where Nikolai leaves his house on the outskirts of the village before dawn. He gets into his car to drive to the railway station, where he meets his old friend Dmitry, a lawyer from Moscow, to help him resolve the issue of his house being demolished.

In Reality

The scene was filmed on a small area near the "Teriberka" stele and next to the road bridge. The house was built specifically for the filming and later demolished, as required by the film's plot. Now, a monument called "Whale Tail" has been erected on this spot.