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Mirror (1974)
Andrei Tarkovsky
Most films inspire some lengthy explanation of what I saw or what they
wanted me to see or what you thought you saw and how your interpretation
is indeed valid, though not quite as valid as mine. Well, none of this is
possible with Mirror. Instead, I will simply catalog some of my reactions to
certain things in the film.
1. Hhh….hhh….hhh….hhh-karkhov.
2. Notice how the fence bobs up and down a little under her weight.
Foreshadowing of little excitements to come.
3. How the well-bucket also bobs up and down on the rope and how real
is the water splashing on the already saturated ground.
4. The juxtaposition of the burning barn and “just rained” as well as the
apartment which is both flooding and on fire. Obvious but no less
effective for it.
5. The way individual hair fibers become visible in between thicker clumps
as they’re pulled apart. This is what is meant by “description of truth.”
This is Nabokov’s “square echo” of a car door slamming.
6. The Spanish music as she dances. How it is taken away from us
suddenly, painfully, as if by some misanthropic disc jockey (33:33
Masculin, Féminin), and then given back to us—in spades.
7. The montage scenes, whether you support the technique or no, are
immensely moving to watch.
8. The child of the Stalingrad blockade—the entire scene.
9. Ooops—going back—the reflection of light off the brown wood floor
in his Moscow apartment. The plastered walls, deep set window
embrasures and curtains hung by a simple metal bar.
10. The visual of the superbright streetlight in the already brightly lit
“running through the street” scene. And also inside the print factory.
And this is just the first thirty minutes. When people say the first thirty
minutes are some of the most beautiful filmmaking ever, what they’re really
saying is they’ve only seen the first thirty minutes.
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