Tarkovsky's one of a kind stream of consciousness picture, his unique masterclass in visual and poetic film-making, "The Mirror", is a mesmerizing and entrancing mixture of dreams, images and memories. The latter are personal and collective ones and guide us deep into the soul of the auteur as well as of his motherland Russia. "Mirror" contains reflections from and back to events in the dying protagonist's life, reflections, whose presence are still strong and are actively occupying his mind, fragmentary as they might be, labyrinthine as their paths may be connected. The seemingly disjointed journey nevertheless is rife with deep emotions, has visionary, dreamy, sometimes even nightmarish qualities of a strange beauty rarely put on celluloid. Tarkovsky establishes links between people of multiple generations and of people with objects and landscapes in order to transcend it all towards something that cannot be easily labeled. In essence "Mirror" is all about the wealth that lies in a life lived and how the past bleeds through into the present and the other way round, forming and re-forming existences that live and once lived. Tarkovsky himself described the art of directing as "sculpting in time" and realizes the idea in this masterpiece formally and content-wise: There's no story and clear cut scenario as such at first glance, the film's focus is constantly blurring, actors play multiple roles over various generations, and no morale is being preached and served to be taken home. And yet it's all there if you not only want to look at things, but to see.
"Mirror" invites to be immersed in the pure beauty of the imagery, enhanced by expressive lyrics by Arseniy Tarkovsky and the subtle but effective soundtrack, all tied together to form an essay about life itself, to simply marvel at it, suffer and rejoice. You might let the film wash over you or analyze it to bits, reconstructing a person out of its fragments, it's the viewer's choice. Understanding and connecting references becomes easier at repeated viewings however, and revisiting "The Mirror" definitely is a must to fully appreciate it, whether you want to see it as an emotional journey or as a sophisticated puzzle, or both - the film at any rate will open up a new horizon of perception. The picture feels like the boy it all starts off with, who is plagued by a stammering condition. In order to help him to articulate himself a healer hypnotizes him and finally succeeds in making her subject talk. Tarkovsky directs in the same vein one might say - by means of hypnosis. And just like the stuttering boy who is observed only via TV by someone else, the narrator and the path he takes are observed by the viewer of the film. There's more however the picture requires than piecing together fragments in order to understand an unseen person on screen, after all a person is more than the sum of its parts. Something to remember when looking into a "Mirror".
"Mirror" invites to be immersed in the pure beauty of the imagery, enhanced by expressive lyrics by Arseniy Tarkovsky and the subtle but effective soundtrack, all tied together to form an essay about life itself, to simply marvel at it, suffer and rejoice. You might let the film wash over you or analyze it to bits, reconstructing a person out of its fragments, it's the viewer's choice. Understanding and connecting references becomes easier at repeated viewings however, and revisiting "The Mirror" definitely is a must to fully appreciate it, whether you want to see it as an emotional journey or as a sophisticated puzzle, or both - the film at any rate will open up a new horizon of perception. The picture feels like the boy it all starts off with, who is plagued by a stammering condition. In order to help him to articulate himself a healer hypnotizes him and finally succeeds in making her subject talk. Tarkovsky directs in the same vein one might say - by means of hypnosis. And just like the stuttering boy who is observed only via TV by someone else, the narrator and the path he takes are observed by the viewer of the film. There's more however the picture requires than piecing together fragments in order to understand an unseen person on screen, after all a person is more than the sum of its parts. Something to remember when looking into a "Mirror".