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5

The Mirror

Zerkalo

Soviet Union

1975

108 Min
Color, Black and White
1.37:1
Spanish, Russian
Subtitled in English
Audio in Russian
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
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DIR Andrei Tarkovsky

PROD Erik Waisberg

SCR Andrei Tarkovsky, Aleksandr Misharin

DP Georgi Rerberg

CAST Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev, Larisa Tarkovskaya, Alla Demidova, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Oleg Yankovsky

ED Lyudmila Feiginova

PROD DES Nikolai Dvigubsky

MUSIC Eduard Artemyev

SOUND Semyon Litvinov

Synopsis

Mirror is the celebrated Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s most autobiographical work in which he reflects upon his own childhood and the destiny of the Russian people.

The film’s many layers intertwine real life and family relationships – Tarkovsky’s father, the poet Arseny Tarkovsky reads his own poems on the soundtrack and Tarkovsky’s mother appears as herself – with memories of childhood, dreams and nightmares.

From the opening sequence of a boy being cured of a stammer by hypnotism, to a scene in a printing works which encapsulates the Stalinist era, Mirror has an extraordinary resonance and repays countless viewings. –Artificial Eye

Director

Original

Andrei Tarkovsky

One of the most important artists of the second half of the twentieth century, Tarkovsky was one of the few unqualified masters in the history of film. While he certainly wasn’t the only great director of his generation of Soviet filmmakers, he was, like Eisenstein was to an earlier generation, its most renowned and most influential.

The son of artists- actress Maria Ivanovna and poet Arseni Tarkovski— he studied both Arabic and geology before turning to film. He enrolled at VGIK in 1959, directed the acclaimed short The Steamroller and the Violin in 1960 and won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for his first feature, Ivan’s Childhood, in 1962. By the time he completed his second feature, Andrei Rublev, he was regarded by many as “a poet of the cinema” – and by the Soviet censors as dangerously esoteric. Unreleased in the Soviet Union until 1971 (and then only in a truncated version), Andrei Rublev was seen first at international festivals and widely… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 132 wall posts.
Picture of Kelvane

Kelvane

16Jun13

The Mirror!

Picture of soniaf

soniaf

9Jun13

Que contraste genial de sensações provocadas pelas expressões dos actores, pelos fotogramas e pelo som <3 Que belo.

Picture of Leyla Yilmaz

Leyla Yilmaz

8Jun13

Tarkovsky meets Proust.

lestephan and Aaron Garrett like this

Picture of Jugu Abraham

Jugu Abraham

3Jun13

"Mirror" can confound viewers who are not aware of Tarkovsky's family. Tarkovsky's relationship to his parents, his two wives, and the elder of his two sons are critical to appreciating the film. Equally important are the subtle socio-political and cultural comments on Russia in 1975. My analysis of "Mirror" appears at http://moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.in/2013/06/146-russian-maestro-andrei-tarkovskys.html

Related Films

Fans

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: “Ivan’s Childhood” and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky

By Adrian Curry on April 6, 2012

On the occasion of what would have been Andrei Tarkovsky’s 80th birthday, Adrian Curry looks back on the best posters for his films.

read article
W184

The Auteurs Daily: NYFF. A Room and a Half

By David Hudson on October 12, 2009

"For all its flights of cinematic fantasy," begins Andrew Schenker in Slant, "the dominant note struck by A Room and a Half, Andrey Khrzhanovsky

read article

Lists

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Reviews

Displaying 4 of 6

Details of Tarkovsky's own family, Russian literature, politics, and religion in "Mirror" help demystify the work

By Jugu Abraham on June 7, 2013

“Sight and Sound”, the official journal of the British Film Institute, conducts two polls for 10 best films ever made—one for top film critics and one for major film directors. Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Mirror”…  read review

Mirror

By Damian on May 13, 2013

Andrei Tarkovsky’s most personal film, Mirror is a partially autobiographical account of Russian life from the 30s until the 70s, when the film was made. The three periods of pre-wartime, wartime and…  read review

Tarkovsky’s The Mirror explores memory and time

By Todd Kushige​machi on August 21, 2012

(Originally posted at www.tkatthemovies.com)

Shifting between black-and-white and color at will, Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror left me be bewildered, stunned by the poetry of its images but…  read review

The Mirror

By Jon on March 13, 2011

“The Mirror” may exhibit striking camerawork, oneiric visuals and liquid camerawork that seems to ooze like honey, but pretty images alone don’t quite cut it. On all other fronts, this sleepy autobiographical…  read review

Forum

Displaying 6 discussion topics.

A Visual Timeline of Andrei Tarkovsky's Zerkalo

37 posts by 12 people 21 days ago

Essay on the long take.

18 posts by 11 people 28 days ago

The Mirror Analysis

22 posts by 14 people over 2 years ago

Andrey Tarkovsky - Sculpting in Time (1987)

10 posts by 9 people almost 3 years ago

THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS

33 posts by 10 people about 3 years ago

Significance of sound in Zerkalo

12 posts by 5 people over 3 years ago