Watch
The Mirror
Your probable score
?

The Mirror

1975
Drama
1h 47m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 75.9% from 2342 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(2342)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 14 Aug 2007
87
95th
I can't say I 'understood' everything, but I think that's besides the point. Beautiful, haunting imagery incorporating interesting use of color, smooth and fluid camera movement and transition, ambiguous temporal and character delineation, and vivid poetic monologues make this a memorable feature.
Rated 30 Jun 2020
100
99th
Fully submerged in the realm of shared dreaming, cinema steeped in the ineffable gestures of abstract painting and music rather than the concrete narratives of theater and literature. I felt like I stared into someone's soul unfolding and then saw my own. Sublime!
Rated 22 May 2008
100
99th
Really hard to follow everything that takes place in this film, but with repeat viewings, and a decent understanding of the narrative, you can realize that you are watching one of the greatest and most beautiful films ever made. Tarkovsky is truly a genius, his cinematography is incomparable. This film is something else, it has such memorable scenes, and such a big sense of grandeur. One of my favorite scenes is that of which he speaks of his repeated dream. Extremely unique. Unforgettable film.
Rated 23 Aug 2007
97
97th
The Mirror is really quite astonishing in terms of what it produces and how it makes you feel. It's not the easiest movie to follow due to strange subtitles and lack of a cohesive narrative--which is entirely the point--but it's superb and truly beautiful all the way through. The Mirror is one of Tarkovsky's most poignant movies and surely one of his best.
Rated 13 Feb 2012
80
77th
Several truly beautiful moments; like a tapestry of memories/dreams. It resonated with me much more strongly after reading about the background of Tarkovsky and what the film represented. Disappointingly, the film meanders and falls at many turns. Tarkovsky's metaphysical beliefs were a load of nonsense; and so his symbolism crumbled apart into the empty pseudo-philosophy mess they were designed to dress up. Very masturbatory film, but with some exquisitely haunting scenes.
Rated 10 Dec 2014
100
99th
A non-linear collection of a person's peculiarly resonant memories and dreams. As the focus oscillates between generations, family members, colour, sepia, and black & white, he manages to create an authentically nostalgic, non-lucid portrayal of these images. Like our own dreams and memories, surrealism and reality overlap, and they're too rich and profuse to narrate, or even remember without foggy tangents, emotional biases and an uncertain clarity. Tarkovsky captures this beautifully.
Rated 12 May 2020
100
99th
Unregainable loss, and at the same time immortality through artifice. Once a man named Narcissus looked into the waters of his unconscious, looking for reflections to be put in an answer complete. Through meditative introspection, in a dislocated way, as selfobjects (Kohut), a world lost - parents, wars, now archival footage, a traumatic 'Real', reappear. It weighs on the subject as time: a childhood, a forgetting, a life - as sculptings, as poetic images, they fly by, live on without trace.
Rated 17 Aug 2011
3
28th
So confusing and frustrating in almost every single way. You shouldn't have to read a plot synopsis after you're done watching a film to attempt to understand what you just watched. The voiceover adds to the confusion and it's nearly impossible to follow. Anyone who understood this is either a genius and shouldn't waste time watching films or is straight up lying. Yes, it does look pretty. But there's thousands upon thousands of pretty films so please stop confusing me with your absent plots.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
99
99th
Cinema is the art form with the greatest potential to expose the uncanniness of the human relationship to time, in its strangeness, repetitiveness, variety, beauty, terror and violence, and with this film Tarkovsky is perhaps the only one to have really grasped this potential. Re-watched in 2021, it seems to be about a man who wishes to atone for his life: although unclear, this does not diminish and in fact adds to a mysteriousness that builds to a crescendo with the magnificent final scene.
Rated 20 Jul 2009
80
98th
Greatest depiction of mind on film. It is simultaneously, inextricably, completely personal and completely impersonal.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
95
98th
We are born, we live, and then we die. There's a clear beginning and end of our physical being but throughout our lives our memories, dreams, and perceptions often live simultaneous in the past, present, and future. There is no time except what we perceive as human beings. The film captures this abstraction of the mind and how our memories play a part in how we perceive ourselves and others.
Rated 05 Jun 2008
98
99th
Don't feel like you need to "get" everything, you'll overthink it.
Rated 28 Oct 2013
11
99th
I've never been keen on Tarkovsky's metaphysical babble, which probably explains my lukewarm reaction to his more meandering movies like Stalker or Solaris. However, The Mirror is the first film of his that's truly moved me. It resembles, both in structure and mood, a nightmare, and, despite the stream-of-consciousness approach, has a very grounded human element, focusing on memories of family and childhood in a way that I have a hard time describing. I felt a great sense of sadness and longing.
Rated 12 Jan 2009
100
99th
Tarkovsky's cinema can't be beaten. It's a new form for aesthetic and magnificent. There's nothing to "get" - just flow with the pure energy that this movies delivers.
Rated 24 Jul 2007
100
99th
An unbearably beautiful film.
Rated 20 Apr 2007
85
73rd
This is definitely a film that will stand up well to repeat viewings. Even though it clocks in at a reasonable runtime, The Mirror is filled with so many different images and situations that taking it all in and "piecing it together" in your mind after seeing the film just once is practically impossible. Still, I got a lot from the experience. And this is the sort of film that has to be experienced -- it can't be explained without most of its impact being lost in the process.
Rated 26 Oct 2009
7
57th
Repeat viewings probably won't help since Tarkovsky likes to leave most questions unanswered, I mean the plot is quite incomprehensible. One dream sequence aside (75 minutes in), I think the photography is far from being a staggering triumph. I respect the effort but I think it's impossible to love this film or think of it as a masterpiece. This is Tarkovsky's most personal work/creation, and what's more personal than the unconditional love for one's child.
Rated 17 Jan 2007
82
73rd
Very intriguing and loaded with mesmerizing imagery.
Rated 22 Oct 2019
95
98th
On the past shaping the present and the present shaping the past. A kaleidoscope of the mind considering the lasting imprint of childhood memory as it forms the mysteries of our life. A nostalgia for curiousity. This is a filmmaker /really/ seeking an ultimate personal truth.
Rated 26 Feb 2020
5
91st
A mesmerizing exploration of the memories of a man and a nation alike. It seems Tarkovsky is - in his own uncompromisingly radical and elliptical way - to capture nothing less than the soul of a nation. It's one of the few films that captures the scope and beauty of an epic poem. For that alone, it should be treasured.
Rated 18 Jul 2008
90
94th
Beautiful, haunting, magnificent, a great film. I can't pretend to understand what Tarkovsky was trying to say, but I got a lot out of it anyway, from the superb images to the emotional connections that underlie it. Tarkovsky is always slow and a bit hard to get into but this actually moves at a decent pace and the performances helped to keep me interested even when I wasn't sure what was going on.
Rated 13 Apr 2009
73
44th
Tarkovsky, as always, makes it look damn good. The problem with this movie is that it's so much work to follow the plot that it becomes exhausting, and by the end I just gave up and resigned myself to not understanding. Also, the voice over narration was intrusive and pseudo-intellectual crap. At least Tarkovsky made it beautiful, so it wasn't a total loss.
Rated 20 Nov 2010
27
0th
Even though I found this to be the most boring film I'd ever seen, I decided to give it another try. This second time I was prepared with lots of coffee and was really focused. But yet again I failed to really grasp what this film is about. And yes, there are some beautiful tracking shots but, hell, I could think of numerous films that are more beautiful than this one. Tarkovsky's own Andrey Rublyov for one. But well, it's maybe not THE most boring film - but top 3 (bottom 3?) for sure.
Rated 09 Mar 2011
80
74th
Mesmerising but confusing, a bit like reading exquisite poetry in braille using your toes.
Rated 01 Apr 2010
100
95th
Like all Tarkovsky, Mirror's beauty is transcendental, there's the feeling that these images that gorgeously pervade each and every iota of the film was done with a divine hand. Mirror doesn't seem so much to have been "built", rather it is an organic experience that has been "grown". The film appears to be extremely personal - as though molded single-handedly - and yet there's a sense of awe that exists simply at the pure deftness of technique displayed. Beautiful and majestic, definite watch.
Rated 16 Aug 2011
60
44th
On the one hand I really liked the surreal structure of this film on the other I was bored way too often. Feels like Tarkovsky filmed one of his dreams - usually I love such experiments, but his dreams seem to be so different from mine that I couldn't quite get it. Even though I didn't really like this film I'm still glad I saw it.
Rated 10 Feb 2013
95
90th
Tarkovsky's "attempt to talk about" himself: The Mirror is a suspicious record of director's childhood, and the narration of his relations and feelings towards his loved ones. Mixed up the present time with dreams and memories by unclear transitions, The Mirror suggests a plot which is out of conventional narrative techniques. In other word the film can be seen as Tarkovsky's effort to picture one's soul. You may need to watch it more than a single time, because it requires an "active" watching.
Rated 18 Nov 2009
5
80th
I love it.....and I don't love it.
Rated 22 Sep 2007
63
60th
If you've wondered why Tarkovsky's cinematography is so revered, here you go. Audio-visually this movie is no less than a marvel to behold. It's also unabashedly literate and artsy. Obviously a very personal movie, it features a deliberately incoherent, almost incomprehensible narrative, goes back and forth in time without warning, mixes up the characters, digresses endlessly and abounds with symbolism, and I have to say movies like this don't affect me as much as they would like to.
Rated 27 Feb 2007
94
96th
Difficult to understand everything, but it's incredibly beautiful. Visually this is just as strong as his other films, full of strong camerawork and memorable imagery.
Rated 16 Apr 2011
50
29th
Some shots were visually arresting, some scenes quietly intense. This is a movie that tries to produce feelings instead of a story. Frustratingly inaccessible.
Rated 06 May 2008
100
86th
This is simply the greatest cinematic achievement in film history to me.
Rated 27 Jul 2008
100
98th
Tarkovsky nevers fails to amaze me. He's simply the most talented and incredible director ever to hit this world! During the first 5 seconds, you already know that this one of the most beautiful and awesome movies ever! It has such memorable scenes, and the imagery is great! The Mirror is simply a classic in my book!
Rated 13 May 2015
88
87th
Accomplishes for Cinema what Marcel Proust's Swann's Way did for Prose. Its statement on Memory is so beautiful and honest to the Human Condition it leaves a pain in your gut.
Rated 14 Feb 2019
75
37th
Look, let's be real. Yeah, it's Tarkovsky and yeah, he's got some great visuals here and there, but it's pretty much just context-less conversations of Russian intellectuals agonizing over shitty Russian life. It's dull and it's bleak and it didn't age well. This is a far cry from Stalker, a far cry from Solaris. Shit, even The Sacrifice was a better movie. And the common theme is coherence. It's easy to make a "very personal" film full of emotional masturbation--it's hard to make it watchable.
Rated 05 Nov 2019
90
90th
A Tarkovsky masterpiece. If all of life's elements could wipe us free from this world, the memories would live on and continue to shape us.
Rated 10 Jul 2013
89
96th
Emotionally crushing, and perfectly reflects the complex and bittersweet emotions we feel as we grow older.
Rated 22 Jan 2010
94
97th
I could try to explain a lot of things about this movie, but I just can think about how beautiful, poetic and deep it is.
Rated 11 Jul 2016
50
23rd
"Zerkalo" is quite a pretty film to stare at, has some good acting in it and I respect the intentions. But it remains boring and incoherent. If one needs to read plot summaries, reviews and interviews with the director to eventually discover what it's all about, then something's lost somewhere. And I could forgive that if the film was a pleasant watch or elicited strong feelings. But this is just meh; plodding and unengaging on both a cerebral and an emotional level.
Rated 15 Mar 2010
90
85th
Beautiful piece of art. The plot is really difficult to follow but it is rather a complex canvas of human life, love and art than a feature film. Tarkovsky has created something that will remain in the golden history of cinematography forever, but this immense body of work wouldn't have been that bright without one of the greatest operators in the history - Georgiy Rerberg. So talented and so unfairly treated by Tarkovsky.
Rated 30 Jul 2013
81
77th
Memories and emotions directly from Tarkovsky's brain. I'd probably understand it a bit better if I knew more about Russian history, but I do know that the use of the camera in here is some of the best I've ever seen.
Rated 10 Jan 2013
100
99th
Tarkovsky crafts a film out of memory - the image of Terekhova sitting on a fence, back to the camera, staring out over the fields is an image which stirred a deep sense of nostalgia within me with its warmth, with its very real beauty, with that certain intangible something which makes this film so exceptional. An overwhelming amount happens in this film at a slow, captivating, luxurious pace and it all happens extremely beautifully.
Rated 05 Jul 2008
100
99th
One of my favorites, because of its complex simplicity. Every frame is glorious! Not many filmmakers can do that! Gripping, even though the pacing is extremely calm. Borders on narrative, avant-garde, arthouse, and diary--the mix is too good to be true. A classic forever, at least for me.
Rated 24 Aug 2010
60
36th
The Mirror is clearly good, but I wasn't equipped to fully understand it. I got lost in the non-chronological stuff.
Rated 30 Jul 2010
9
92nd
Tarkovsky is like a Russian Terrence Malick. Beautiful cinematography where every shot tells a story. Obviously a personal movie for the director but a very powerful one for everyone else.
Rated 18 May 2014
76
94th
Not an "experience," but a film. Pure film.
Rated 08 Jul 2011
97
97th
Sorry, Andrei Rublev, but this is now my favorite Tarkovsky.
Rated 27 Apr 2007
0
8th
Another Tarkovsky film that's so boring that I'd caution anyone with a heart condition against watching it
Rated 09 Oct 2016
77
42nd
um.......i guess you had to be there?
Rated 08 Dec 2009
100
98th
A unique poetic film that combines aspects of Tarkovsky's childhood and early life in a dreamlike and non-linear fashion. Even if you fail to understand the 'plot', it is still a masterpiece of film making which should be watched. Tarkovsky successfully combines many tangents into what I believe is his best work.
Rated 02 Feb 2016
95
93rd
Reflecting what, exactly? Seemingly all of human existence to be honest. A cryptically beautiful, reflexive and haunting masterwork. A film about Tarkovsky, about Russia, about the entirety of the human race. Memory, ambition, death. All of that good stuff.
Rated 21 Dec 2008
90
89th
Watch this film as if it were a Mirror. See yourself and see Tarkovsky at the same time.
Rated 29 Oct 2012
95
98th
It's simply frightening how well Tarkovsky can depict abstract ideas like the human imagination, it seems effortless. The atmosphere is beautiful, melancholic but optimistic at the same time. The only thing that keeps the movie from being perfect is how it slipped into being overly confusing at times.
Rated 28 Dec 2019
75
76th
I love the poetry in the visuals, not so much that which is recited.
Rated 29 Sep 2019
49
46th
This is impressive in how directly someone's mind is being projected onto film, but Tarkovsky's consciousness doesn't offer any purchase for access or engagement. Compared to say, Lynch's Inland Empire, another auteur mind scoop, it just isn't that interesting. Maybe one day I'll try again, but most likely not.
Rated 07 Oct 2019
93
96th
beautiful
Rated 19 May 2022
96
85th
When have you ever seen actual footage of the Spanish Civil War, the Eastern Front in WWII, or the Cultural Revolution? Think about it. The Tree of Life is history within a cosmic perspective; here, it's the cosmic perspective within history.
Rated 09 Aug 2022
65
23rd
I'm more than willing to admit I don't get Tarkovsky. Granted, I enjoyed this a lot more than Stalker. But there's just this air of pretentiousness I cant get over. I like the black & white & sepia tones, etc to differentiate the timelines. And the burning shed and pretty much all the scenes from the childhood on the farm are fucking beautiful and works of art. The framing of certain shots and use of mirrors: I get it. And yet, I don't want to feel like I have to study an analysis to like a film
Rated 14 Aug 2023
99
98th
Incredibly ingenious and deeply tragic presentation, through objects, faces and scenarios seamlessly joining together fragments of memories, dreams and events, of the flow of mind that weaves past, present and future tightly together in a way that, instead of imperfectly opening up the future as unexpected possibilities, perfectly composes the life of generations as an inheritance of the same path of disenchantment, dissatisfaction, disappointment, struggle against them all and hope in vain.
Rated 17 Mar 2024
55
17th
Great to see the russian meryl streep at work. Too bad the storytelling screams Art. Yes there are intriguing scenes but then enters the voiceover that gives me an attack of madness - such an annoying, pompeus wordsalad! This is what I call intellectualistic wanking, or to put it less harshly: an escaperoom for literature geeks. Best scene had a hysterical recording of Herr unser Herrscher by JSB - who else?
Rated 07 Jan 2010
100
97th
It's by far his most personal and difficult film, a completely fragmented work which yet connects together immensely, with every piece adding together to create an impressive work which explores memory and dreams with significant depth. It's still a challenge on this viewing but it's an exceptional work nonetheless.
Rated 20 Jan 2016
77
74th
Hard to follow, but a really beautiful movie that I feel I'd appreciate more on repeat viewings.
Rated 01 Mar 2008
97
95th
# 63
Rated 15 Jul 2016
100
99th
Nem o próprio Proust adaptado para o cinema é tão proustiano quanto este filme.
Rated 17 Apr 2007
94
95th
# 60
Rated 09 Aug 2011
80
91st
Difficult, but rewarding largely autobiographical effort from Tarkovsky. One of his best.
Rated 29 Oct 2012
65
65th
For some reason I just wasn't able to get in the film. It felt so incoherent that watching it became frustrating in the end. Still, it looked beautiful 100% of the time.
Rated 09 May 2011
80
58th
Dreamlike and confusing to watch
Rated 15 Sep 2015
79
64th
Tarkovsky's compositions are some of the most beautiful and radiant in all of cinema, but his films never connect with me emotionally despite that. Unlike other free-flowing films like Inland Empire that taps into inexorable fear or The Tree of Life that so gracefully portrays faith and love with loss and sorrow, The Mirror couldn't reach me on that level. Maybe it's the language barrier, or my difficulty grasping the characters.
Rated 27 Oct 2013
100
98th
God damn it, this was gorgeous in every way possible.
Rated 01 Aug 2014
80
75th
A head-on collision of poetry and sentimentality. Blurs the line between past and present, and sometimes even reality versus fantasy.
Rated 23 Aug 2015
85
89th
Rewatch
Rated 22 Nov 2011
77
24th
Underwhelming is the correct word for this piece of self-indulgence. I'm sure it's brilliant as a memoir for Tarkovsky but I'm stumped as to why anyone else would bother to find it particularly fascinating. Beautifully shot as always.
Rated 05 Apr 2012
97
99th
Film doskonały jest filmem doskonałym.
Rated 15 Oct 2010
97
97th
probably the most personal film I've ever seen. you can see everything that Tarkovski is here, in every frame
Rated 02 Dec 2009
82
91st
I would suggest reading what the movie is about before actually watching it. Knowing what happens doesn't ruin what the movie is trying to accomplish. I believe I will enjoy it better when I watch it a second time.
Rated 10 Apr 2011
96
99th
Poetry.
Rated 25 Aug 2014
90
97th
'Dreamlike' is usually my least favourite adjective in cinema, a field where ideas often give way to lazy obscurantism. With a true master director in Tarkovsky, though, it really works.
Rated 30 Jul 2013
7
92nd
badly needs a rewatch. i don't think i really quite followed it the first time i watched it quite a while ago.
Rated 31 Mar 2016
90
85th
Our Daily Free Stream: Andrei Tarkovsky - The Mirror (engl. subt.). Andrej Tarkowski erzählt nicht einfach Geschichten, er filmt das, was wir vielleicht ahnen, aber nicht wissen. The Mirror ist traumhaftes Erzählen... mehr auf cinegeek.de
Rated 26 Jul 2008
95
97th
Continuing on with my boner for Tarkovsky, here comes the Mirror. This is a confusing film with a lot going on. It takes place in 3 different times and just kind of randomly switches back and forth. It's loosely autobiographical. It uses childhood memories, newsreel footage and poems by his father. It uses colour in a really interesting way. It has dreamlike qualities and it focuses a lot on the beauty of what it's shooting.
Rated 30 Nov 2011
97
94th
#67
Rated 19 Dec 2008
97
94th
69
Rated 14 Aug 2007
60
58th
Not one of my favorites by Tarkovsky.
Rated 07 Aug 2014
85
71st
The cinematography, especially the haunting black and white scenes, which recall Ivan's Childhood, are a thing of beauty, and Margarita Terekhova gives two extraordinary complex performances. However, The Mirror didn't hit me in the way that Solaris or Andrei Rublev did, and I drifted through much of the film detached from the events that played out on screen, though it may be that I haven't had adequate time to process The Mirror, and reconcile the film's spiritual and political sides.
Rated 26 Dec 2009
80
74th
I'll have to rewatch when i'm in the mood
Rated 24 Sep 2008
70
78th
What did I see...
Rated 20 May 2014
85
75th
Vivid but aimless. It's always interesting and its imagery is effective. Those looking for a clear narrative will be incensed or bored. Better suited for patient viewers with an interest in the deconstruction of form. Likely requires multiple viewings to reach its full impact. As it is, it's fragmented like the dreams and memories Tarkovsky is attempting to access.
Rated 03 Jan 2010
99
99th
Gorgeous.
Rated 02 Apr 2010
80
81st
watched: 2010, 2023
Rated 06 Sep 2010
95
97th
Tarkovsky's most baffling film is absolutely brilliant. Most scenes don't even appear to relate to each other, but in terms of these memories and recollected images, Tarkovsky makes sure they make sense. This also has one of the top five best cinematography I've ever seen in a film.
Rated 09 Feb 2009
70
32nd
I wish I liked it more...
Rated 19 Jun 2009
89
95th
Mother is a key word in here. One of the key words. Very, very difficult movie. Needs reviewing. And also I have to review Stalker which has pretty close connection to this movie.
Rated 12 Mar 2011
89
73rd
A pseudo-poetic stream of unconsciousness.
Rated 15 Oct 2011
81
80th
War scenes caught me at most. There was excellent camera using and perfect situation expression in the training scenes. Complex fiction without story and uneven colour of visuals make the film complicated. Freud influence gets little boring anyway.
Rated 02 Jan 2015
50
0th
Andrei Tarkovsky #2
Rated 13 Jan 2010
97
94th
68
Rated 01 May 2011
80
40th
On first watch, this was too hard to digest and whilst visually enjoyable in some parts, did not come together into something good for me.
Rated 10 Sep 2012
100
99th
#803 - 08 Agustos 08, 06:58 am. , yonetmenin izledigim ikinci filmi & parcalari birlestirmeye ugrasmadan, bir anlam yuklemeden, anin tadini cikara cikara izlenmeli. boylelikle daha rahat anlasiliyor ve parcalar oturuyor. Tarkovsky'nin gecmise, kendi icine yaptigi ozgur bir turun filme alinmasi. / ikinci izleyisim; 10 eylul 2012, talmud'taki musa'nin 'geri git' hikayesi ile tum film birlikte dusunulebilinir. ozellikle son sahneye ve 50-55dk. arasındaki rus askerle olan sahneye dikkat.
Rated 19 Oct 2014
90
85th
ilk önce anlamadığımı düşÃ¼ndüm. biraz ekşi okuyunca başka bir gözle bakılması gerektiğini düşÃ¼ndüm. kadın oyuncuya aşık olmamın dışında bir filmin sadece şiirsel boyutu olarak tarif edebilirim. tekrar tekrar izlenmeli

Collections

(99)
Compact view
Showing 1 - 24 of 99 results

Similar Titles

Loading ...

Statistics

Loading ...