Elena is a woman with a proletarian background who meets Vladimir, an elderly business tycoon, in a hospital when she is his nurse.

Elena is terrified by the prospects of such a new will and decides to murder him by switching his own medicines with Viagra, which is extremely dangerous in his post heart attack state.

[6] Critic Stephen Holden of The New York Times was impressed by Zvyagintsev's "vision of Moscow as a jungle teeming with predatory wildlife" suggesting that "in this quasi-feudal social environment, avarice and blood ties trump all other values".

[7] The Village Voice acclaimed Zvyagintsev's "scalpel-like precision dissecting class that recalls Claude Chabrol".

[8] "Shoot this film in black and white and cast Barbara Stanwyck as Elena, and you'd have a 1940s classic", Roger Ebert observes.

Zvyagintsev said of the venture, "As a long-time admirer of Christopher Nolan, I am honored that he is initiating his partnership with Zeitgeist with my film.