An interesting theme that I tracked throughout watching Tsar’s Bride was the difference throughout the movie of indoor and outdoor spaces. The film is rife with dramatic irony, where characters are confused as to each other’s motives. From act 1 in the feast, it seems that the moments of confusion or dishonor happen indoors, whereas moments of clarity and truthfulness happen in nature.

From the beginning scene of the feast in act one characters motives are clearly concealed, with the hiding of Lyubasha from the rest of the party, and with the eventual buying of the love potion. In these indoor confined spaces (often framed in a forced perspective so that the characters head is crammed against a ceiling or overhanging doorway) character’s motives are hidden from each other and characters act dishonorably or selfishly. But, in nature, for example the tsar choosing Martha, Lyubasha being truthful to the German man about her use of the potion, and most obviously Martha hallucinating that she is outside as she reveals the truth about her real love thinking the reality of her being chosen to be tsarina was a dream, characters act honestly and openly.

The natural landscape in the film serves as a revealing and truthful space, where oppositely the indoors—where there is extreme ornamentation and social structure—serves as a dishonorable and muddied space.