Room in Rome

Alba

Natasha

Edurne

Little Boy

Little Girl

Julio Medem wrote the part of Alba for Elena Anaya. When the actress accepted the role, she and Medem went to Russia to cast the perfect Dasha. After seeing a lot of actresses, they found the perfect one, but the night before this woman was flying to Spain to start rehearsals, her husband read the screenplay and forbade her to play the role. Funny enough, Medem and Anaya found Natasha Yarovenko while casting in Spain, specifically in Barcelona.

The satellite image for the fictional "Pompeo Hotel" is a fake, the image is photoshopped from the location 41°54'2" N 12°28'14" E. The place where the hotel in the movie is located is a empty street. The fictional island "Ostrov Nekrasov" is a photoshopped image from the location +54° 33' 31.23", +48° 49' 59.46". And Alba house is a photoshopped image from the location +43° 18' 50.30", -1° 59' 27.57".

The song sung by Natasha/Dasha and Alba in the shower is "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu," commonly known as "Volare" in the U.S. It was a worldwide hit (including number one in the U.S.) for Domenico Modugno in 1958. The lyrics describe a dream that the singer knows will never happen again in which he is painted blue and flying ("volare") and singing ("cantare") in the sky. A non-literal English translation of the song was a hit by Bobby Rydell in the U.S. in 1960.

In what's meant to be the same scene shown from two different angles, when Natacha's sat on the balcony, she can be seen from the bathroom, but not vice versa where there's a curtain in the way and it's clearly a separate set as there's no trace of the bedroom.

Natasha: [in Russian; subtitled] I'm sorry, Vadim, but I can never tell you about this. I know you have many secrets about where you've been and the many women you've been with. Now, I have a secret. But it's much further away then yours. I have now been with a woman. I know I'm not lesbian. I know I'm not attracted to other women. Why am I attracted to this one? I am so confused. You'll always have that... my reflection. This... it's mine alone.

Natasha: Just remember, I like men.

Alba: Natasha, never before, in my whole life, I've known a love like this. Not this way. And it can't be for nothing.