The article considers the works of Alexey German in their semantic and stylistic aspects. In his earlier films, in the spirit of the Sixtiers, German advocated for an objective and uncompromised truthfulness, especially in war pictures. In the 1980s (e. g. in My Friend Ivan Lapshin [Moy drug Ivan Lapshin]), the director moves on to a more personalized, ‘transformative’ and fantastic depiction of reality. This approach is epitomized in his film Khrustalev, My Car! [Khrustalev, mashinu!], only to be followed by a complete rejection of a historical sense and a belief in humanity’s enduring corruption in It’s Hard to Be a God [Trudno byt’ bogom]. Another topic examined in the article is German’s treatment of original literary sources during script writing and filming. Despite the fact that almost all of his projects were based on well-known stories and novels, German would systematically expunge any narrative quality, or semantic certainty, or plot continuity, opting instead for an involved sonic register. He liked to stress independently valuable visual imagery, associative aspects, and the overall character of the image: this approach proved highly beneficial in Khrustalev, My Car!, but failed entirely in the flop It’s Hard to Be a God.