Several recurring characters and their interactions make up a large part of the film, such as the poet, the little girl and the bull, the little boy and the crows, the dancers and the soldiers, the train, the apples and especially the little grey wolf (Russian: се́ренький волчо́к, syeryenkiy volchok).

[7] Yuri Norstein wrote in Iskusstvo Kino magazine that the film is "about simple concepts that give you the strength to live.

Excerpts from works by Bach (notably the E flat minor Prelude BWV 853 (from The Well-Tempered Clavier)) and Mozart (the Andante second movement from Piano Concerto No.

4 in G major, K41) are used, and the World War II era tango Weary Sun, written by Jerzy Petersburski, features prominently.

Придёт серенький волчок, Он ухватит за бочок И утащит во лесок Под ракитовый кусток.

Voda prochladnaya, Chinara vysokaya, Solntse svyetit, Koshka dryemlyet, Ya stihi sochinyayu Slava Bogu, zhivyom!..