Geography of the film
The movie takes place in Moscow in 1986. The two primary locations in the city where the film was shot are the center and the periphery. The contrast between these places emphasizes the difference in the lifestyle of the Soviet elite and that of common Soviet citizens during the period leading up to and including Perestroika.
Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow hills or Lenin hills until 1999)
The group of hills where the Moscow State University is located. MSU, Russia’s oldest university, is extremely prestigious and competitive. Entrance to this “harvard” of the USSR often depended upon one’s personal or familial connections.
As we can see in this episode of the film,“blat”, promotion through acquaintances, was essential to get almost anywhere in Soviet Society, even to get a job of a loader in a produce store, not to mention MSU. Having money and influential parents was half the battle to be excepted in the University, at least for some of the students. This explains why these two MSU students are depicted as so arrogant and condescending to Ivan in this scene.
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The apartment of professor Kuznetsov is in a very prestigious location in the center of Moscow, near the subway station “Chistye Prudy”, on Bobrov pereulok. Apartments in that part of Moscow are extremely expensive nowadays – starting at a million dollars. Although back in Soviet days such an apartment was a lot less expensive than now, it was as now a symbol of the high status and wealth of its owner. Based on the location of Kuznetsov’s apartment one can indirectly estimate the income and status of the professor
The courtyard in the outskirts. This is the place in the outer rings of Moscow between khrushchevki – old Soviet 5-storied apartment blocks – and newly built high-rises, where the new youth culture was born. The life there was unpretentious, to meet a friend one only needed to go outside to one such courtyard, where nobody was arrogant or pompous. Social status in this suburbs didn’t play a significant role in social life. Even the adolescents didn’t feel too old to play street soccer
or break-danceat night.
This courtyard culture was a wild mixture of the West and Soviet culture, to some extent it copied western culture, while at the same time retaining something authentic, that easy-going lifestyle of the Soviet youth which originated between the old khrushchevki and newly built high-rises in the Moscow outskirts.
The leopard’s den
This is a part of the interview with Karen Shakhnazarov about his film “Courier”:
– There was an interesting scene in the leopard’s den when Ivan brings Katya on a date. I think it was shot in a quarry on the outskirts of Moscow. What exactly did you mean by this episode?
– Ivan always dreams about something, he lives in a fantasy world. At the same time, Katya – is a far more progmatic girl. She is more rational, so to speak, a girl from a good family. For her, it is foreign, that’s why they eventually parted. They are very different indeed.
