I just watched it last night. I thought it was a pretty incredible film conceptually and visually.
I can also understand its purchase in the West, as I feel like it glorifies pre-USSR imperial Russia, and there are only thin references to anything in the 20th century (the most notable and darkly trippy of these being the soldier digging his own grave during the siege of Leningrad).
Probably the most dream-like movie I ever watched. The way everything flows together, the timeline jumping around to various scenes with no acknowledgement that anything’s out of the ordinary, and the hazy plot thread all make it very hypnotic. However, unlike my dreams, I had access to my upper faculties, so I was mostly bored out of my wits watching it.