The Mirror

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The Mirror (Зеркало, Zerkalo) is a 1975 semi-autobiographical film by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is difficult to describe because of the plot, whose non-linear nature defies any kind of concrete narrative structure. It is best to describe it as the thoughts and recollections of Alexei (Ignat Daniltsev) and his son Ignat (Ignat Daniltsev) about his mother Maria (Margarita Terekhova) and wife Natalia (Margarita Terekhova). These memories stretch from the Great Patriotic War to the present day. The film was never offically released due to Goskino complaints, but has recently been released on DVD and subsequently welcomed into the Tarkovsky oeuvre.

Tropes used in The Mirror include:

• Acting for Two
• Autobiographical Role: Tarkovsky's mother plays Maria's mother. His father recites the poem.
• Based on a True Story
• Biopic
• Crowning Music of Awesome: "Exodus" by Eduard Artemyev.
• The Danza: Ignat Daniltsev as Ignat.
• Doppelganger
• Gainax Ending
• Great Patriotic War
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Hey, it's Writer from Stalker, or Andrei Rublev, or Sartorius from Solaris, playing the doctor at the beginning!
• Life Embellished
• Public Domain Soundtrack: "Herr, unser Herrscher" from the Johannes-Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach plays at the end.
• Random Events Plot
• Scenery Porn
• Stock Footage: The Mirror has lots of stock footage, including scenes of:
  • Soviet balloons.
  • The Spanish Civil War.
  • The Great Patriotic War.
  • The Sino-Soviet Border War.
• True Art Is Incomprehensible
• What Could Have Been: Bibi Andersson and Alla Demidova were considered for the role of Maria/Natalia.
• Write What You Know
• Write Who You Know