The film's plot includes a journey of the characters on the Moscow-Murmansk train. Some scenes were shot in a carriage that circled around St. Petersburg. But there was also a real train: several filming carriages were attached to an actual train heading to Petrozavodsk. To capture beautiful atmospheric shots of the Russian winter, the film crew visited Petrozavodsk, Olenegorsk, Teriberka, and Murmansk. Even snowstorms that could have hindered filming were turned to their advantage by the director and his assistants: they used the bad weather in the frame.

Filming Locations:

Apartment

In the Movie

The scene where the heroine enters an apartment where a party is taking place. Guests are guessing riddles: one says a quote, the others must guess whose it is. Laura enters one of the rooms and picks up a book titled "Petroglyphs of Murmansk."

In Reality

The scene was filmed in the apartment of director Nikolay Khomeriki in St. Petersburg. The party gathered intellectuals, so the film crew needed to convey the atmosphere of a cozy house concert where everyone knows each other and chats about poets in clouds of cigarette smoke. Nikolay Khomeriki's apartment became an excellent set for the scene.