The initial material of 'Maria' came from a filmic report about a woman worker on a collective farm that the director had shot for the Television of the City of Gorki, years earlier. When Sokurov later received word that this former central figure had committed suicide, he returned once again to the village, to the scene of the report. His view of the world had fundamentally changed: The simplifying optimism of prior days is now confronted by a feeling of tragic uncertainty.