The Mirror (1975)
"Zerkalo" (original title)

A man in his forties is going to die and remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments but things that also tell the story of all the Russian nation...

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky

Writers:

Aleksandr Misharin, Andrei Tarkovsky,

Stars:

Margarita Terekhova, Oleg Yankovskiy, Filipp Yankovsky

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Margarita Terekhova	...	Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother
Oleg Yankovskiy	...	The Father
Filipp Yankovsky	...	Aleksei - 5-years-old
Ignat Daniltsev	...	Ignat / Aleksei - 12-year-old
Nikolay Grinko	...	Printery Director
Alla Demidova	...	Lisa
Yuriy Nazarov	...	Military trainer
Anatoliy Solonitsyn	...	Forensic doctor
Larisa Tarkovskaya	...	Nadezha - Mother of 12-y-o Alexei
Tamara Ogorodnikova	...	Nanny / Neighbour / Strange woman at the tea table
Yuri Sventisov	...	Yuri Zhary
Tamara Reshetnikova
Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy	...	Aleksei (voice)
Arseni Tarkovsky	...	Father (voice)
E. Del Bosque	...	A Spaniard

Storyline

The director mixes flashbacks, historical footage and original poetry to illustrate the reminiscences of a dying man about his childhood during World War II, adolescence, and a painful divorce in his family. The story interweaves reflections about Russian history and society.

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Plot Keywords:

childhood | poetry | flashback | divorce | russian history | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian Spanish

Release Date:

7 March 1975 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

The Mirror

Filming Locations:

Mosfilm Studios, Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

RUR 622,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

To create the effect of the wind making waves through the crops in the field outside the cabin in the woods, Tarkovsky had two helicopters landed behind the camera and would switch on the rotors when he wanted the wind to start.

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Goofs

During the last scene when the grandmother is accompanying the two children through a field, and the camera backtracks itself into dark woods,on the lower right portion of screen, the gleaming camera tracks are visible for a few seconds.

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Quotes

Father: 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. And the overwhelming joy is clouded by anticipation of awakening. At times something happens and i stop ...

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Connections

Referenced in Unknown Pleasures (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Matthäuspassion - BWV 244"
Composed by Johan Sebastian Bach

User Reviews

Is there anything left to say?

If you have experienced Mirror, and by experience I mean much more than just having watched it (the experience may take multiple viewings to achieve) then you will realise the futility of describing or reviewing this film much in the same way as the inadequacy of a second hand account of a mystical experience.

Tarkovsky was a mystic: although his religious beliefs are well known there is much less acknowledgement of his conception of God. For Tarkovsky God was everywhere and in everything, his (its) presence is felt in the rustling of leaves in the breeze, the burning of wood, the rain falling (and falling, and falling) on damp fields. Humans exist as a sea of melancholy within the infinite beauty and wonder of nature.

Mirror is the closest art has ever been to portraying the mystical experience of one spiritually sensitive individual. The second hand experience can never be as profound as that from your own being. But an odd and sad experience comes from watching Mirror, the belief that your own interpretation of the world will never be so deeply poetic or deep as Tarkovsky's, and the world you see on the cinema screen seems more vivid and alive than real life ever will.