Mirror

Composite Score: 85.2

Starring: Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovskiy, Ignat Daniltsev, Oleg Yankovskiy, Alla Demidova, Yuriy Nazarov, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Larisa Tarkovskaya, Tamara Ogorodnikova, and Arseniy Tarkovskiy

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers: Aleksandr Misharin and Andrei Tarkovsky

Genres: Biography, Drama, History

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Box Office: $121,248 worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Mirror is Andrei Tarkovsky’s semi-autobiographical film about a man in his forties recalling bits about his life and world events from the 1930s to the mid-1970s, focusing on his relationships with his mother, his ex-wife, his father, and his son. The film unfolds in a series of loosely connected fragments, featuring Margarita Terekhova as the “protagonist’s” wife and mother (in flashbacks) and Ignat Daniltsev as both his son and himself (in flashbacks). It explores the concepts of memory, history, and self-inflicted guilt, beautifully portraying all of this in its disjointed narrative structure that also features cinematography in color, black-and-white, and sepia tones. The film is considered by many critics to be Tarkovsky’s greatest film, engaging deeply with his content and showcasing a mastery of the cinematic craft from start to finish.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Though it might be Tarkovsky’s greatest cinematic work, Mirror is by no means the filmmaker’s most approachable film. The nonlinear and disjointed narrative that weaves dream sequences with archival footage, flashbacks, and “present day” episodes does enough on its own to disorient even the most dedicated cinephile. (Side note: I don’t believe following the film’s narrative perfectly to be necessary to enjoying the film and partaking of its artistry.) It doesn’t try to be conventional in any recognizable way, and that unconventionality is sure to dissuade a sizable portion of the film’s potential audience. Ease into this one, and don’t seek to make this your first expedition into Tarkovsky’s work or unconventional films. If you find that you enjoy such things, then this film should be on your list, but more casual viewers probably will find themselves straight up not having a good time with this one.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Mirror might be the closest film can come to a stream-of-consciousness narrative, feeling every bit as disjointed and raw as the memories from which it springs. It watches like Faulkner reads: not necessarily always making sense but always leaving you with a profound sense of its creator’s intent. In the case of Mirror, specifically, Tarkovsky wants to address his own perceptions and, more broadly, the sense that all of us feel at some point or other that we have done more harm than good to the people we love most, even when they don’t see it that way at all. We see this play out in his guilt-ridden flashbacks to a melancholic mother, in wistful poems about love and regret and living read over scenes of childhood and adolescence and global conflicts, in a tension our protagonist feels in his relationship with his son and ex-wife. It all boils down to an overwhelming sense of wondering whether he (we) could have done something differently and felt better about ourselves. In actuality, we get glimpses of people’s true perceptions of the protagonist, and they don’t seem overly put out by anything he has done (his mother even asserts that he feels guilt over something that he never did). In this juxtaposition of perception and reality, Tarkovsky challenges his audience to step out of themselves and leaves them with a message of positivity within all the regret and looking back. Ultimately, Mirror offers us a way to look at ourselves and a challenge to remember to stop looking at ourselves as well and to return to reality rather than the distorted realities we often create in our own minds – a fitting message for a film with this title, if I’ve ever seen one.

                Mirror’s glorious cinematography and disjointed sense of regret brings out a more impactful final message that others rarely think as badly about us as we do about ourselves, doing the work of a true artistic film in pleasing both the senses and the soul, earning a place among the Greatest Films of All Time. Its unconventional nature makes it a film that not everyone will easily engage with, so give yourself some time to come around to this one when you are ready because, in that moment, you will be rewarded with an excellent bit of filmmaking. If you’re there, this film can currently be streamed via the Criterion Channel, so go check it out.