Zerkalo (1975)
The Mirror (1975)
A Film by Andrey Tarkovskiy
DVD9 | ISO | PAL 4:3 (720x576) | 01:41:51 | 01:41:51 | 7,89 Gb
Audio: Russian 1.0 @ 448 Kbps (original); Russian AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps
Subs: Russian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Swedish, German, Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese
Genre: Art-house, Drama
A Film by Andrey Tarkovskiy
DVD9 | ISO | PAL 4:3 (720x576) | 01:41:51 | 01:41:51 | 7,89 Gb
Audio: Russian 1.0 @ 448 Kbps (original); Russian AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps
Subs: Russian, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Swedish, German, Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese
Genre: Art-house, Drama
The award-winning director Andrei Tarkovsky the son of a famous Russian poet, was born in 1935 and grew up in and around Moscow during the Second World War. This non-linear autobiographical film is considered by many Russian-speakers to be his best film and is his most personal meditation on time, history and the Russian countryside. In a series of episodes and images, he captures the mood and feeling of the period just before, during and after the war. Lyrical reminiscences of his mother and of his father's poetry figure large in the film, along with extraordinary images of nature. Combining black-and-white and color work, with some unusual documentary footage, this highly regarded movie is structured with the logic of a dream.
IMDB
The legendary, unorthodox and brilliant Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky ("Solaris"/"Andrei Rublev"/"Ivan's Childhood") in the fourth of his full-length seven films he completed before dying in 1986 presents a unique artsy autobiographical film shot in color with parts in black-and-white. His aim, as he stated, was to reveal things imprinted in his memory. It's co-authored by Alexander Misharin, who brings in refreshing statements on the aesthetic and moral basis of an artistic work. The film is grounded by an unseen dying artist narrator (Innokenty Smoktunovsky) who reflects on three generations of the Tarkovsky's family that covers ground in a non-linear order from his birth in 1935 and his idyllic childhood in the country that was broken only by the divorce of his parents. The narrator, representing himself as Andrei Tarkovsky, reflects on his relationships with his poet father, Arseni Tarkovsky, whose poems are read throughout the film in his real voice and give voice to what the film was about, and warmhearted mother (worked as a proofreader at a printing house) as both a child and adult. The narrator also tells of his relationship with his wife and son, and reveals his pungent thoughts on Russian society. The actors have interchangeable parts, which adds to the confusion. Margarita Terekhova plays the mother as a young woman and then puts down her pinned up hair to play the wife.
Zerkalo (1975)
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It's told without plot, but gets its story across through flashbacks and stunning images. It's meant to be more emotionally felt than being intellectual and though often impenetrable it always remains freshly original in its form and striking visions. Its theme of the effects of lost innocence and paternal abandonment in a troubled world can be universally understood. Tarkovsky shoots for the moon and for the most part succeeds in trying to make his personal story also a lesson in political art, as by intercutting personal events with historical documentary black-and-white newsreel footage of the evils of the Stalin regime to the haunting images of the Second World War (including a stunning sequence of the Soviet Army crossing Lake Sivash) to just what it means to be a Russian. The film is fascinating in breaking down time barriers and other rules of cinema to show how the past appears in the present, and its logic is that of a dream until awakened and things become hazy again.
Zerkalo (1975)
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The bulk of the emotional impact of the film comes from scenes of Andrei's fatherless childhood. An early scene shows his neglected mom sitting on a fence by their country homestead and flirting with a passing village doctor who asks for directions. In another great scene there's a mystical flashback following the narrator's father's return from a long absence. His mother washes her hair in a basin and water drips down from the roof as she walks inside the house in a blissful mood and gazes into a full-length mirror, and then in another mirror across the room her image is transformed into an old woman. There will be many other provocative mirror scenes throughout the film. There's a scene that meant much to Tarkovsky as it shows him as a young man testing a military instructor's patience by being difficult, and of him as a child leafing through an art book of Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of "A Young Lady With A Juniper" in his early quest for knowledge that coincides with the joyful moment his father came home on leave.
Zerkalo (1975)
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In adding some personal touches, the director had his real-life mother Maria act as the mother in old age, his wife Larissa acts as the doctor's wife to whom the mother sells an earring, and his stepdaughter acts as the red-headed girl with whom the narrator falls in love as a young boy.
The State Cinema was displeased with the film, unable to comprehend it artistically and they therefore determined it was an elitist work. As a result they limited its showing in Russia to only a few small suburban theaters and put the director on notice that he was on the outs and would one day have to work outside Russia. Though it is truly a difficult film to get a handle on, the effort to do so is worth it. It's now rightly looked upon as one of Tarkovsky's great films.Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
Zerkalo (1975)
Tarkovsky's films seem to expect a lot from the audience, and this one seems to want more than most. Perhaps, we're fortunate that the director keeps the running time under two hours here, then. The Mirror is exceptionally self-referential, if I'm to believe what I've read about it, and it sure felt that way as I watched it. The film's narrative is somewhat obscured, but it basically consists of the regrets of a man that is dying in his 40's. The film flashes back from this time period to what seems to be around WWII in his childhood. Both time periods use the same actors in a variety of roles (including the ballsy choice of casting the same woman as the lead's love interest and mother) of and the adult narrator is rarely (if ever) seen on screen, which adds to the confusion. We're never sure whether we're in the present time or the past, so whenever the film switches time periods, it feels as if we're in the here and now.
Zerkalo (1975)
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The film is a phantasmagoric experience. Most of the images that we see are absolutely stunning, and Tarkovsky has an uncanny knack for focusing on one mind-blowing vista, then moving his camera to three more within the same shot. Perhaps it's because of the protagonist's closeness to death, and his imminent departure from the corporeal world, but the film has an obsession with physical things. The camera stops to notice the wind blowing, a spoon as it teeters then falls from a table, or the condensation from a glass as it evaporates. The film takes everyday items and makes them feel surreal. It's a remarkable achievement in cinematography.
Zerkalo (1975)
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The performances are uniformly excellent. It's interesting that a film that is so insular allows such a fully developed supporting cast. Surprisingly, the film's introverted themes never feel self-indulgent, since Tarkovsky adds enough universality to the themes of death and regret. His protagonist's eventual coming to terms with his own death is quite beautifully staged, and the scenes afterward suggest he was able to attain a reconciliation with himself before dying. I do admit that there are some scenes in the film that I cannot quite place, and imagine another viewing would do wonders. I imagine my hesitancy in declaring the film a masterpiece has more with my own failings as a viewer than the film's deficiencies. This is the sort of film that starts you off without a net and leaves you to find your own footing. Some might view that as torture, but I see it more as a too-uncommon challenge.
Zerkalo (1975)
Special Features:
- Introduction: Interview with scriptwriter Aleksandr Mišarin (32:32 min)
- Introduction: Interview with politician Grigorij Javlinskij (09:55 min)
- Biographical Text Tables on Arsenij Tarkovskij
- Excerpts of films with Anatolij Solonicyn (08:18 min)
- Documentary on Innokentij Smoktunovskij (10:50 min)
- Documentary on Nikolaj Grin’ko (03:24 min)
- Eduard Artem’ev: Dedication to Tarkovskij (09:13 min)
- Filmographies: Tarkovskij, Aleksandr Mišarin, Margarita Terekhova, Georgij Rerberg, Nikolaj Dvigubskij, Eduard Artem’ev
- Photo Album
- Trailers (hidden in the Filmographies) for Soljaris (03:20 min), Nekončennaja p’esa dlja mekhaničeskogo pianino (1:29 min), Sinjaja Ptica (03:06 min), Sibiriada (02:21 min), Dvorjanskoe gnezdo (03:46 min)
Zerkalo (1975)
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