Directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky
Writing credits
Aleksandr Misharin
Andrei Tarkovsky
Arseni Tarkovsky (poems)
In a larger context, The Mirror depicts the thoughts and emotions of Alexei (Ignat Daniltsev) and the world surrounding him. The structure of the film is discontinuous and non-chronological, without a conventional plot, and combines childhood memories with newsreel footage. The film switches between three different times, the prewar time, the wartime and the postwar 1960s.
The film starts with Alexei's son Ignat (also played by Ignat Daniltsev) switching on a television set and watching the examination of a stutterer by a physician. In the next scene, set in the countryside in the prewar time, Alexei's mother Maria (Margarita Terekhova) is talking with a passing-by doctor (Anatoli Solonitsyn). The exterior and the interior of the house are shown and a barn on fire. In a dream sequence Maria is washing her hair. Set in the postwar time, in the 1960s Alexei is talking with his mother Maria on the phone, while the interior of a house is shown. Switching to the prewar time, the mother Maria is shown at her work as a proofreader at the printing press. She is worrying about a mistake she may have overlooked, but is comforted by her colleague Lisa (Alla Demidova), who then reduces her to tears with withering criticism.
Back in the postwar time, Alexei quarrels with his wife Natalia (also played by Margarita Terekhova), who has divorced him and is living with his son Ignat. This is followed by scenes from the Spanish Civil War and the ascent of a balloon in the USSR. In the next scene the same apartment is shown, with a strange woman (Tamara Ogorodnikova) sitting in one room. Ignat reads a letter by Alexander Pushkin and receives a telephone call from his father Alexei. Switching to the wartime, Alexei is shown during rifle training, intercut by newsreel footage of the Sino-Soviet border conflict and World War II. In the next scene, the reunion of the children with the father (Oleg Yankovsky) after the end of the war is shown. The film then returns to the quarrel between Alexei and his wife Natalia in the postwar 1960s. Switching to the prewar time, the house and the surrounding countryside are again shown, intercut by a dreamlike sequence showing a levitating mother. The film then switches to the postwar time, showing Alexei on his deathbed. The final scene plays in the prewar time, showing a pregnant mother Maria, intercut by scenes showing Maria young and old (the old Maria is played by Tarkovsky's mother Maria Vishnyakova).
The Mirror draws heavily on Tarkovsky's own childhood. Childhood memories such as the evacuation from Moscow to the countryside during the war, the withdrawn father and his own mother, who worked as a proofreader in a printing press feature prominently in the film.
The film starts with Alexei's son Ignat (also played by Ignat Daniltsev) switching on a television set and watching the examination of a stutterer by a physician. In the next scene, set in the countryside in the prewar time, Alexei's mother Maria (Margarita Terekhova) is talking with a passing-by doctor (Anatoli Solonitsyn). The exterior and the interior of the house are shown and a barn on fire. In a dream sequence Maria is washing her hair. Set in the postwar time, in the 1960s Alexei is talking with his mother Maria on the phone, while the interior of a house is shown. Switching to the prewar time, the mother Maria is shown at her work as a proofreader at the printing press. She is worrying about a mistake she may have overlooked, but is comforted by her colleague Lisa (Alla Demidova), who then reduces her to tears with withering criticism.
Back in the postwar time, Alexei quarrels with his wife Natalia (also played by Margarita Terekhova), who has divorced him and is living with his son Ignat. This is followed by scenes from the Spanish Civil War and the ascent of a balloon in the USSR. In the next scene the same apartment is shown, with a strange woman (Tamara Ogorodnikova) sitting in one room. Ignat reads a letter by Alexander Pushkin and receives a telephone call from his father Alexei. Switching to the wartime, Alexei is shown during rifle training, intercut by newsreel footage of the Sino-Soviet border conflict and World War II. In the next scene, the reunion of the children with the father (Oleg Yankovsky) after the end of the war is shown. The film then returns to the quarrel between Alexei and his wife Natalia in the postwar 1960s. Switching to the prewar time, the house and the surrounding countryside are again shown, intercut by a dreamlike sequence showing a levitating mother. The film then switches to the postwar time, showing Alexei on his deathbed. The final scene plays in the prewar time, showing a pregnant mother Maria, intercut by scenes showing Maria young and old (the old Maria is played by Tarkovsky's mother Maria Vishnyakova).
The Mirror draws heavily on Tarkovsky's own childhood. Childhood memories such as the evacuation from Moscow to the countryside during the war, the withdrawn father and his own mother, who worked as a proofreader in a printing press feature prominently in the film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072443/
