남루한 행색의 청년 라스콜리니코프는 페테르부르크의 뒷골목을 정처 없이 걸어다니며 만나는 사람들마다 최근 사망한 한 여성을 아느냐고 묻는다. 그러는 사이 청년은 자신도 모르는 사이 낯선 세계로 들어간다. 푸시킨, 고골, 도스토예프스키 등 러시아 문학의 모티브가 도드라지는 작품으로 "세컨드 서클"(1990), "돌"(1992)에 이은 “삶과 죽음에 관한 3부작”의 마지막 작품.
Russian monk Grigori Rasputin rises to power, which corrupts him along the way. His sexual perversions and madness ultimatly leads to his gruesome assasination.
In Leningrad, at the end of the White Nights, young and childishly naive Nina meets a young journalist Valery. She falls in love with that genuine first love, which is only possible when you're 19 years old. She does not suspect that for such an ambitious aesthetic as Valerik, this is just another episode in an endless celebration of life. The leitmotif of the film, which became a cultural landmark for several generations of people born in Leningrad - St. Petersburg, is the natural scenery of the beautiful city on the Neva river at the beginning of the sixties.
