What does the country's main director think about love and life? How does the master of cinema relate to power and democracy? Does he get offended when they call him a master? And why does worldwide fame always lead to global loneliness?.. Everything that Nikita Mikhalkov does arouses the closest interest of the public. People argue about his work, they admire him, they imitate him... However, like almost every great artist, he is not always understood and accepted by his contemporaries. It is no coincidence that Nikita Sergeevich called his book “Public Solitude” and shared in it his thoughts on a variety of creative and cultural and life issues: about faith, power, women, xenophobia, monarchy, great actors and much, much more... “These are not memoirs written years later, of which there are so many today and in which any past events and persons can be illuminated and presented in "the right light." This is a documented chronicle of what I have said before and what I am saying now. It is a cruel experiment, but I am going through it consciously. What is said is said, what is done is done.” The author approached his book according to the “Hamburg account”. Well, what came of it is up to you, dear readers, to judge!