The Mirror - Andrei Tarkovsky
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
The film is virtually a testament to Tarkovsky’s insistence that the film medium transcends the limitations typical of textual narratives and engages the viewer on a direct existentially experiential level. However, the film’s loose, nonlinear structure also makes it difficult to follow for the average viewer. Many people only come to appreciate The Mirror after several repeated viewings.
The subject matter of the film concerns the memories and reflections of a 40-year-old man, Alexei, who has been diagnosed with a terminal health condition. These are told in the form of various separate vignettes from the man’s childhood as well as from his present circumstances, and the sequences jump back and forth in time without much motivation or explanation. Somewhat like the films created by Tarkovsky’s friend Sergei Parajanov, it is up to the viewer here to assemble these pieces into something meaningful – but we must bear in mind that Tarkovsky did not have a hidden (textual) “message” behind these elements. They were put together by Tarkovsky from his own personal experiences in an intuitive manner to reflect his feelings rather than thoughts.
The subject matter of the film concerns the memories and reflections of a 40-year-old man, Alexei, who has been diagnosed with a terminal health condition. These are told in the form of various separate vignettes from the man’s childhood as well as from his present circumstances, and the sequences jump back and forth in time without much motivation or explanation. Somewhat like the films created by Tarkovsky’s friend Sergei Parajanov, it is up to the viewer here to assemble these pieces into something meaningful – but we must bear in mind that Tarkovsky did not have a hidden (textual) “message” behind these elements. They were put together by Tarkovsky from his own personal experiences in an intuitive manner to reflect his feelings rather than thoughts.
Prepared by Duygu Söbe
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