Mirror (1975)

Mirror is much copied, but as the recent run of Terrence Malick films demonstrates, eschewing time and plot for flotsam and psyche is much harder than Tarkovsky makes it look.

While there is barely a story to tie it all together, The Mirror finds connections in the longings of Alexei. He longs to understand his past, his land, his family, his inspirations and fears, and that’s what the movie is able to convey in its abstract but persuasive way.

Tarkovsky goes for the great white whale of politicised art a history of his country in this century seen in terms of the personal and succeeds. [18 Aug 2004, p.90]

Regardless of its dense intellectual and autobiographical content, however, Mirror can still be appreciated as an attempt to capture the human soul and to show that, for all our diverse individual experiences, we still have much in common on an emotional and spiritual level.

Tarkovsky possessed a sensibility for, and mastery over, the cinematic form that few directors – before or after – have been able to match; a mastery evident in almost every sublime frame of Mirror.

The Mirror may not be the easiest place to start your Tarkovsky education, but its sublime images (including a memorable shot of a burning barn in the rain), are sure to whet your appetite for more. [26 May 2000, p.M]

Mr. Tarkovsky appears so absorbed in grappling with his own demons that universality suffers. [17 Aug 1983, p.C14]

Andrei Arsenevitch. As if Tolstoy's Prince André, looking at the sky at Austerlitz, became a real man in flesh and blood through magic and found his true artistic calling. Since Tarkovsky morphed into the tranquil, serene, slow conjurer of floating memories and fleeting dreams, the master of real kinematic magic. But not one who aims to fool, entertain or assuage us into infantile escapism but to elevate us, to come closer to God. Nothing less than that. In this masterpiece, each one of us can rediscover his/her mother , childhood, fears even though none of us ever lived in WWII Moscow. We are left ingrained in our psyche this scene and that scene, that back of the head, that plucked chicken, that fire and that water that we have seen in our own way, that shared experience of the passing time, its meaning (the purpose of imperfect memories and "unreality" of dreams) and what will be left of us if don't do anything to work for the Good(this part is my two cents!).

Creating a world full of light "Mirror" is considered by many Tarkovsky fans and cinema experts to be his best work. But really, his works do not differ much in quality. Tarkovsky works miracles and it doesn't matter if it is in "Ivan's Childhood" or "Mirror" or "Sacrifice". His deep understanding of cinema, music and literature has shaped his special and different atmosphere in his works. The common elements in the films with the special tone and language form the author Tarkovsky's cinema. In the mirror is the most important concept of "word" which is next to Concepts and other elements such as woman, land, human, light, war, love, mirror, sacrifice, ethics, salvation, life, etc. create a strange and mysterious combination and at the same time attractive and catchy. The title of prophet of cinema is fitting and lasting for him and spiritual cinema for his films.

This is a sobering watch - its quite an arty style of film, partly in black and white and the timeline seemed a little all over the place. It looked to me, visually, like something of a series of dream sequences, with library footage of war scenes and other historical events relevant to Russia in the early to mid 1900s. This film was a bit too complicated, in terms of the symbolism, the ultimate meaning of whats being said, for me to fully grasp. The dialogue seemed almost poetic at times but I couldn't quite figure out what it all amounted to somehow. It did seem somewhat poignant at times perhaps but I felt it was perhaps a little too dark and unclear for me to be especially keen on, if thats not too unfair a thing to say(?). There is definitely a sinister undercurrent present but it also is very much based on the everyday life of Russian people in the first half of the 1900s. I wouldn't recommend this as such, no.

ajab film ajibi bood pishnehad mishe hame hade aghal ye bar in filmo bebinan tarkofski man hamino azash didam vali ba sabk film sakhtanesh bayad ashna besham mamnon

Un film « éboulifiant » que l’on dirait tout droit sorti d’un sketch des Inconnus… sauf que ça dure une heure trois quarts, ce truc ! notons cependant que ça reste assez court tout de même, surtout venant de ce réalisateur de l’ère soviétique, Tarkovski (qui étale ses daubes habituelles sur deux heures et demi ou trois heures), qualifié de pur génie par tous les bobos du monde entier, y compris Télérama et Positif bien évidemment. Notons également -cependant- que ces moins de deux plombes qui tentent de nous occuper ici, durent en vérité le triple ou le qudruple en temps ressenti, voire bien plus encore… il ne s’agit pas pour autant d’un film surréaliste, il n’en a même pas l’excuse : c’est plutôt un mélange foutraque monté dans le désordre par un scénariste alcoolique. De fait, on pige que dalle dans ce merdier sans queue ni tête et si l’actrice blonde principale est tout à fait charmante, elle ne suffit pas à nous tenir éveillé ! mais je crois en vérité que ce film (intenable) était avant tout utilisé pour faire parler les prisonniers politiques, camarades ! (ils devenaient fous ou ils tombaient dans le coma…).