Mirror (1975)

Last updated:
September 2, 2025

Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror (Zerkalo) is one of the most unique films in cinema history. Unlike conventional storytelling, it unfolds like a dream: fragmented, lyrical, deeply personal. It blends autobiography, memory, dreams, and historical trauma into a tapestry of images and emotions rather than a straightforward plot. Below is a structured exploration of this enigmatic classic.

Table of Contents

Detailed Summary

Opening: The Voice and the Healer

The film begins with a striking sequence: a young man with a stutter is treated by a hypnotist on live television. It’s a strange, unsettling prologue that already signals the unconventional narrative to come.

Childhood Memories and the Absent Father

We move into the perspective of Aleksei, a dying man reflecting on his past. We see him as a child in the 1930s with his mother, played by Margarita Terekhova. The absent father looms large over the family’s life, a presence defined by absence. The camera lingers on landscapes, wind, and fire in the fields—images that are as central as the characters themselves.

Mother and Wife as Dual Figures

Aleksei’s mother and wife are played by the same actress, creating a haunting doubling effect. This blending reflects how memory, dream, and reality fuse in the mind. The strained relationships—his mother’s hardships and his own marital breakdown—mirror each other across generations.

The Interweaving of History and Memory

Throughout the film, historical documentary footage appears: newsreels of the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and postwar Soviet life. Tarkovsky interlaces Aleksei’s private recollections with collective Soviet memory, as if to say that personal history and national history cannot be separated.

Dreams and Visions

The film includes surreal dream sequences: levitating figures, dripping water, mysterious strangers. Tarkovsky emphasizes that dreams are just as important as waking reality in shaping who we are.

Movie Ending

The ending of Mirror ties together the threads of memory, dream, and mortality. We hear Aleksei’s voice as he reflects on his impending death, though we never see him as an adult onscreen. Instead, Tarkovsky shows us his mother walking through a field, joined by Aleksei as a boy and his younger sister. His absent father appears in memory too, as if reunited with the family. The camera lingers on the rural landscape, with nature—wind, grass, and trees—becoming a central character.

This ending is deeply ambiguous: is it a memory, a dream, or a vision of the afterlife? Tarkovsky resists closure, instead leaving the viewer with a sense of cyclical time, where childhood and adulthood, life and death, personal memory and collective history blur together.

Are There Post-Credits Scenes?

No. Mirror has no post-credits scenes. Tarkovsky’s films are complete in their own right, and Mirror ends with its final images of memory and nature.

Type of Movie

Mirror is a poetic, autobiographical art film. It’s not a linear narrative but rather a meditation on memory, history, and identity. Many critics describe it as part memoir, part historical reflection, and part dream cinema.

Cast

Margarita Terekhova as Aleksei’s Mother / Wife
Ignat Daniltsev as Aleksei’s Son (Ignat)
Oleg Yankovsky as Aleksei’s Father
Filipp Yankovsky as Young Aleksei
Maria Tarkovskaya (Tarkovsky’s own mother) as Old Maria (the Mother in later years)

Film Music and Composer

The score was composed by Eduard Artemyev, who created an atmospheric electronic soundscape that fuses with Tarkovsky’s images. The soundtrack also includes Bach’s chorales and fragments of Pergolesi, heightening the spiritual and dreamlike aura.

Filming Locations

Moscow and the surrounding rural areas – The countryside settings are deeply personal to Tarkovsky, reflecting his own childhood landscapes.
Novgorod region – Provided the wind-swept fields and forests that serve as recurring backdrops.
These locations are central: the natural world is as important as the characters, embodying memory and emotion.

Awards and Nominations

Mirror did not win major international awards upon release. In the Soviet Union, it faced censorship and criticism for being too obscure. However, retrospectively, it is now considered one of the greatest films ever made and regularly appears in “Greatest Films of All Time” polls (including Sight & Sound).

Behind the Scenes Insights

Tarkovsky drew heavily on his own childhood and family life; his mother even plays herself as an older woman.
The director’s father, Arseny Tarkovsky, reads his own poetry throughout the film.
Many scenes were inspired by Tarkovsky’s own dreams, transcribed directly into the script.
The natural imagery (wind, fire, water) required difficult practical effects, with Tarkovsky insisting on real wind machines and controlled burns.

Inspirations and References

Based on Tarkovsky’s own memories and dreams, making it semi-autobiographical.
Inspired by Russian poetry, particularly his father Arseny’s works.
Echoes of Dostoevsky and Pushkin can be felt in the spiritual and philosophical tone.
The film is often seen as Tarkovsky’s response to the Soviet era, reflecting on collective trauma through personal memory.

Alternate Endings and Deleted Scenes

Tarkovsky reportedly shot additional scenes of Aleksei’s adult life, but chose not to include them, keeping the protagonist unseen to preserve the film’s dreamlike ambiguity. No official alternate ending exists, but early drafts were more biographical and less poetic.

Book Adaptations and Differences

The film is not directly adapted from a book. However, it is steeped in Arseny Tarkovsky’s poetry, which serves as a narrative spine. In some ways, the film feels like a cinematic adaptation of poetry rather than prose.

Memorable Scenes and Quotes

Key Scenes

The slow-motion scene of the barn burning in the field.
The levitating mother in the dream sequence.
The boy washing his hands as milk spills across the table.
The family walking together at the film’s end.

Iconic Quotes

Arseny Tarkovsky’s poetry, read in voiceover: “I have dreamed you all my life…”
Ignat’s line: “How could you live without remembering?”

Easter Eggs and Hidden Details

Tarkovsky’s real mother plays the older version of Aleksei’s mother, adding autobiographical authenticity.
Many household items in the film came directly from Tarkovsky’s childhood home.
The doubling of mother and wife reflects Freud’s idea of repetition and memory.
The opening hypnotist scene was inspired by an actual Soviet TV broadcast Tarkovsky saw as a child.

Trivia

The film was initially rejected by Soviet authorities as “incomprehensible.”
Tarkovsky’s crew nicknamed the project “Confession,” which was its working title.
It remains one of the director’s most personal works and was his own favorite among his films.

Why Watch?

Mirror is not a film you watch for plot—it’s an experience. It’s for viewers who want cinema that feels like poetry made visual, blending dreams, history, and memory into one of the most unique works of art ever created. If you are open to abstract, non-linear storytelling, Mirror is a life-changing film.

Director’s Other Movies

Ivan’s Childhood (1962)
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Solaris (1972)
Stalker (1979)
Nostalghia (1983)
The Sacrifice (1986)

Mirror (1975)