The Mirror

Mirror is a film directed by Andrey Tarkovsky. The film was made in 1974. After watching Mirror, I realized that the film was similar to the film Inception, which was released in 2010. They are similar not in plot or characters, but in the effort one must put into understanding it. For Inception, I feel as if viewing it twice helps the viewer completely understand the plot of the film and what happens in the conclusion. Mirror is similar to this, but to more of an extreme than Inception. The film was extremely unusual and difficult to follow, but I feel as though this is what also helps make Mirror such an intriguing film.

            Though the film was difficult to view, I was able to notice some interesting things and come up with some ideas or theories concerning the film. I think the film is a combination of different sequences in time, flashbacks, and possibly dreams. Throughout the film, characters differ in age, and atnI thought I noticed a difference in the woman’s hair color. This is the woman who is sitting on the fence in the beginning of the film. At first I thought that the film was introducing new characters, but I am fairly certain that the changes in characters are a result of the change in time. For instance, the viewer can see that the boy is training for the military in one of the sequences in the film. This would probably be set during the time of the Second World War, since Russia suffered many casualties, resulting in a need for more men or children to be trained as soldiers. After the viewer sees the scene of the boy training, a bird lands on his head and he is able to grab it. Later when the man is on his deathbed, the viewer sees that there is a bird by his side on the bed. This suggests that there are at least two different time periods that the film takes place in, during the war, and then a post-war period. Another piece of evidence that suggests the general time period in which the film takes place is in the scene in the newspaper factory. On the wall there is a poster with Stalin pictured, suggesting that this scene of the film takes place sometime between when Stalin rose to power and when he died in 1953. I also believe that there may have been dream sequences in the film because the viewer can see a woman floating in one of the scenes towards the end of the film.

            One thing that I found interesting about Mirror was the use of clips from the news. They seemed to pop in to the movie whenever something related to what was in the clip was discussed. When the Spanish men are present in the film, there are clips of war. Though it is not stated which war is being shown in the clip, I think that the clips are from the Spanish Civil War and not World War Two. The desire to avoid the civil war would explain why the men and their families live in Russia. The Spanish Civil War was fought from 1936 to 1939, and the Soviet Union helped support the Republicans fighting in the civil war. This might have resulted in people who supported the Republicans but were not fighting in the civil war to move to the Soviet Union.

            When my brother found out that I was taking Russian Cinema for J-term, he became excited because he thought that we would watch one of Tarkovsky’s films in the class. Tarkovsky is one of my brother’s favorite directors. As a result of my brother’s interest in Tarkovsky, I read a little about him and his life. After seeing Mirror, I realize that there are some similarities between Tarkovsky and the characters in the film. Tarkovsky’s father was not present in his life, similar to the family in Mirror. If I am correct in thinking that some elements of Tarkovsky’s life are present in Mirror, this would make sense as to why the film is entitled Mirror. Tarkovsky may be reflecting on his life through the use of film.