St. Petersburg in late November. The sky is the color of wet concrete, and the Neva River is beginning to choke with shards of ice. The air is so cold it hurts to breathe—a physical manifestation of the protagonist’s internal state. The Characters:
A wide shot of the Neva River. The ice is moving slowly. On the soundtrack, the final, weeping violin solo of Nara’s song plays out as the snow begins to cover the entire city in a suffocating white blanket. Nara Ne Olur GiМ‡tme (Rus Uyarlama Klipli)
She pauses, her hand on the cold brass handle. For a second, the melody of the song swells in the silence—raw, bleeding, and Turkish. She looks back, her eyes reflecting the neon "Apteka" sign from across the street. She doesn't speak. She just pulls the door shut. The air is so cold it hurts to
A Turkish architect living in Russia, exhausted by the grayness of the city and his failing relationship. On the soundtrack, the final, weeping violin solo
He thinks back to their first winter. They were younger, warmer. He remembers dancing with her in the middle of Palace Square, her red coat a vibrant wound against the white snow. He had promised her then that he would never let her feel the Russian winter's bite. He failed.