The Mirror

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Country:Russia

Director:Andrei Tarkovsky

Program:Parallel Pathways

Year: 
1975

Summary:

Andrei Tarkovsky now stands as one of the most well regarded directors in history. The Mirror has no apparent plot. Instead it rhythmically combines contemporary scenes and the reminiscences of a dying man with childhood memories during World War II, recollections of a painful divorce in the family and newsreel footage. At various points in the film poems by Tarkovsky's father, Arseny Tarkovsky, are recited. The loose flow of visually oneiric images has been compared to the stream of consciousness technique in literature. Its complex yet simultaneously simple parallel structure makes The Mirror one of Tarkovsky's most difficult films, as well as his most personal.