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The Mirror

Zerkalo

Soviet Union

1975

108 Min
Color, Black and White
1.37:1
Spanish, 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 126 wall posts.
Picture of Aaron Garrett

Aaron Garrett

21May13

Makes you embarrassed to give any other film five stars. Hadn't seen it in a long time and it was much better than I remembered -- and I remembered it was a masterpiece.

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fleurare

8May13

You should definitely re-watch three times before rating. Or six times. Or ten times.

Picture of Beatrice

Beatrice

22Apr13

" It seems to make me return to the place, poignantly dear to my heart, where my grandfathers house used to be in which i was born 40 years ago right on the dinner table. Each time i try to enter it, something prevents me from doing that. I see this dream again and again. And when i see those walls made of logs and the dark entrence, even in my dream i become aware that I'm only dreaming it. "

Picture of Danny Dreams

Danny Dreams

7Apr13

Some scenes are genuinely breathtaking. Pure art in motion.

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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 7, 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 5

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

Untitled

By jaredmo​barak on October 11, 2009

After watching a screening of Antichrist, actor Willem Dafoe talked about the film and director Lars von Trier’s motivations. During the course of this brief Q&A, some light was shed on the inclusion…  read review

Forum

Displaying 6 discussion topics.

Essay on the long take.

12 posts by 9 people about 12 hours ago

A Visual Timeline of Andrei Tarkovsky's Zerkalo

35 posts by 11 people 5 months 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 almost 3 years ago

Significance of sound in Zerkalo

12 posts by 5 people about 3 years ago