Elena through the eyes of the film's creators. Elena from the perspectives of the director (Andrey Zvyagintsev), scriptwriter (Oleg Negin), and director of photography (Mikhail Krichman). Elena approached from different angles. Elena as a story and a staging. Elena conveyed through colour and sound, through space and rhythm. Elena as a mode of existence - for the actor within a shot, for an individual within a world. What is a contemporary film-maker, what does their new language comprise of and what are the responses to the work? This book compiles material from interviews, diary entries made during shooting, written correspondence, plus master classes for film students and conversations with the general public.