The son of two poets (his father wrote the Russian national anthem), Konchalovsky originally studied as a concert pianist before moving on to filmmaking, writing scripts for acclaimed director Andrei Tarkovsky. His short thesis film, "The Boy and the Pigeon", won first prize in its category at the 1962 Venice Film Festival and his feature debut, "The First Teacher" (1965), established his reputation for finely-observed, well-acted character studies. "Asya's Happiness" (1967) was suppressed upon completion but released to critical acclaim in 1988.

In 1979 Konchalovsky's three-and-a-half-hour