Mirror
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
Critics Sentiment
Unfamiliar woman appears in flat and reads Pushkin letter to Ignat
Newsreel footage shows war, atomic bomb, and Sino-Soviet conflict
The film drops from the mysterious woman sequence (9.2) to the war newsreel footage (6.8), a swing of 2.4 points as viewers found the documentary material intrusive.
Mirror maintains consistently high sentiment throughout most of its runtime, with reviewers praising Tarkovsky's visual poetry and autobiographical intimacy. The film peaks with its most mysterious and haunting sequences, particularly the unexplained woman's visit, while dipping only during the extended newsreel footage that some found disruptive to the film's dreamlike flow. Overall, critics recognized it as a masterpiece of cinematic memory and personal reflection.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 23
Margarita Terekhova
Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother
Ignat Daniltsev
Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old
Larisa Tarkovskaya
Nadezha
Alla Demidova
Lisa
Anatoliy Solonitsyn
Forensic Doctor
Mykola Hrynko
Printery Director
Tamara Ogorodnikova
Nanny / Neighbour / Strange Woman at Tea Table
Yuriy Nazarov
Rifle Shooting Instructor
Oleg Yankovskiy
The Father
Filipp Yankovsky
Aleksei - 5 Years Old
Tatyana Reshetnikova
Proofreader in Printing House
Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy
Narrator - The Author's Words (voice)
Arseny Tarkovsky
Narrator - His Own Poems (voice)
Mariya Tarkovskaya-Vishnyakova
Old Mother
Yuri Sventikov
Asafiev - War Orphan
Olga Kizilova
Redheaded Girl
Ernesto del Bosque
Spanish Refugee
Luis Correcher
Spanish Refugee
Ángel Gutiérrez
Spanish Refugee
Dionisio García Zapico
Spanish Refugee
Crew
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