In 2011 after attending a showing of Terrence Malick’s, “The Tree of Life”, I was awe-struck at thinking that I had just watched something not only deeply personal, but very original. As I finished viewing Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1975 film, “Mirror”, I understood that while Malick’s movie is still great, it was not as original as I initially thought. “Mirror” is one of the most unconventional movies that I have ever seen, working in essence as a flow within the memory and life of its main character. A character that most people attribute to being Tarkovsky himself.
“Mirror”, follows the life of one Alexei (Oleg Yankovsky plays the adult version), who is a man reflecting on his own life and Russian history. The movie spans a pre-war period in the 30s, when Alexei was a young boy, a period during the war in the 40s when he was an adolescent and a period in the late 60s when he was a divorced adult with an adolescent son. The movie moves freely between these time periods without linear or conventional logic to tie them together. In addition, the movie’s cinematography uses elegant color, stark black and white photography, slow-motion dream sequences and historical black and white newsreel footage throughout the movie. Tarkovsky blends these different visual styles throughout the different time frames in the movie. Not all the 1930s scenes are filmed in Black and White as not all the more modern period scenes are filmed in color. The blend is sporadic and seemingly without reason. This also results in a spellbinding visual experience.
Tarkovsky’s use of the same actress to play both his mother and his ex-wife adds to the feeling I had of pure emotion while watching the movie. The blend of characters played by the same person and through different time periods often happens throughout the film. In addition, these same characters appear in the elegant dream-like sequences that include a view of the mother post-shower sequence that gives her a ghost-like appearance while a shower ceiling collapses, that is repeated within another dream-like scene that shows her levitating above a bed.
The movie also makes use of the same actor to take on the role of Alexie as an adolescent during wartime and his son during the more modern sequences. Initially, this free-flowing style combined with no direct artistic differentiation of the time periods resulted in my getting confused as to which period and sometimes character I am watching. Eventually, the deep emotional images flowed easily, and I was able to follow not only specific characters but also their emotional depictions.
The interspersal of the historical newsreel footage, while initially seeming out of place, eventually gave me a feeling of context for Alexei or Tarkovsky himself and the world in which he exists. One of the more startling of these scenes is pictures of Russian soldiers wading through water and mud on their way to the front during World War II. Facing almost certain death, their onward determined movements are enlightening. Especially when placed within the context of this eclectic movie of memoir and feelings. The footage of nuclear bomb explosions also serves as a context for the world in which Tarkovsky lives.
I believe that Tarkovsky in making the movie, was trying hard to interpret his memories. These are sometimes memories of actual events, or just feelings and even dreams. Is there a correlation between the scenes filmed in color and those in Black and White? I am sure there is, but it would take countless repeated viewings to decipher this. Instead, these smooth changes of style felt like emotional surges of visual spender to me. I was awe-struck and totally captivated by the sheer visuals shown in the movie.
As for mirrors, there are plenty of them throughout the film and each time a character looks into one, the gaze is deep in thought. In many cases, the mirror serves as a trigger to another thought or period. If this is a movie about the memories of Tarkovsky then the mirror serves as its window. The look into a mirror is the view into a memory and that is how I felt while watching this fascinating film.
I also felt a lot of metaphysical energy in many scenes. The fast motion depiction of vapor evaporating from a tabletop to the natural falling of rain, the blazing of a bonfire and nature’s natural reaction to a blowing wind. I recalled windblown blades of grass from Malick’s film and here we are shown almost purposeful movements of golden blades of wheat made by a sudden wind burst. All these are not only beautiful to behold but also gave me an emotional feeling of longing. Tarkovsky seems to be telling me that our world and nature are triggers for our memories.
Andrei Tarkovsky’s, “Mirror”, is one of the most original motion pictures I have ever seen. It is a stunning depiction of one man’s memory that is awe-inspiring and heart-rendering without telling a linear story. Like a painting by great artists or a symphony by one of the music giants. It is a movie of artistic beauty that is a treasure to behold.
1001 Movies before you die 