IMDb on iPhone and iPod touch Learn more Learn more Download from the App Store
IMDb > Zerkalo (1975)

Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   6,373 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Contact:
View company contact information for The Mirror on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
April 1975 (Soviet Union) more
Genre:
Plot:
A man in his forties is going to die and remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments but things that also tell the story of all the Russian nation... full summary | full synopsis
NewsDesk:
User Comments:
See it and die more (50 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Margarita Terekhova ... Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother
Oleg Yankovskiy ... The Father
Filipp Yankovsky ... Aleksei - 5-years-old
Ignat Daniltsev ... Ignat / Aleksei - 12-year-old
Nikolai Grinko ... Printery Director
Alla Demidova ... Lisa
Yuriy Nazarov ... Military trainer
Anatoli Solonitsyn ... Forensic doctor
Larisa Tarkovskaya ... Nadezha - Mother of 12-y-o Alexei
Tamara Ogorodnikova ... Nanny / Neighbour / Strange woman at the tea table
Yuri Sventisov ... Yuri Zhary
Tamara Reshetnikova
Innokenti Smoktunovsky ... Aleksei (voice)
Arseni Tarkovsky ... Father (voice)
E. Del Bosque ... A Spaniard
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Зеркало (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Sarke (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
The Mirror (USA)
White, White Day (English translation of working title)
more
Runtime:
108 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
To create the effect of the wind making waves through the crops in the field outside the cabin in the woods, Tarkovsky had two helicopters landed behind the camera and would switch on the rotors when he wanted the wind to start. more
Goofs:
Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the first scene, in which stutterer Yuri Zhary is being hypnotized, a shadow of the boom mic is prominently visible on the wall behind him. However, because this is clearly supposed to be a recreation of a TV broadcast, it appears to be a intentional error. more
Quotes:
Father: It seems to make me return to the place, poignantly dear to my heart, where my grandfathers house used to be in which i was born 40 years ago right on the dinner table. Each time i try to enter it, something prevents me from doing that. I see this dream again and again... more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Kino pro kino (2002) more
Soundtrack:
Johannes Passion - BWV 245 more

FAQ

Which paint inspired the famous scene with a bird landing at boy's head?
more
99 out of 106 people found the following comment useful.
See it and die, 1 February 2005
Author: federovsky from bangkok

We are talking visual poetry here. For almost the entire film, every square inch of screen is minutely painted. Ordinary criticism doesn't apply, there is no comparison between this and any other film.

So many scenes have you holding your breath in awe. The smallest movement of light is choreographed precisely. A shadow across someone's face, the wind in the trees - these are not simply images of those things, but the ungraspable nature of life, regret, beauty, memory. So much more lies beneath the surface, as we are shown a reflection in a mirror that momentarily purports to be reality, but need not necessarily be interpreted as such.

The film's magic derives from Tarkovsky's surefooted ability to succeed with a succession of intense, beautiful images. He cannot put a foot wrong. Discontinuity in the narrative give the appearance of complexity, but Tarkovksy would insist that the basic thrust of the narrative is simple. The film is immensely personal, and the disconnections only serve to involve the viewer more – we are allowed to fill in the gaps ourselves.

To appreciate all this you need an essential sympathy for nostalgia and memories, for the passing of life, and for regret. You need an appreciation of a silent room and what it previously held, and of nature. You will need a sense of living in a turbulent and dangerous world, where all beauty is transient and sad. You will need to understand how small moments in life can become the most precious.

The film is tragic because, like memories, it lingers. It shows us details beneath the surface and how they can affect us. It shows life in the context of death, nature, the times and places we have passed through. The camera ponders and paints all this in beautiful detail.

Of course, real life is never so rich nor so intense - only momentarily so. The film wants to distil as much of that precious beauty as possible in a number of disjointed moments, coloured through memory and imagination, from childhood through to the point of death.

Apply it to your own life. There is no more than this.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (50 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Zerkalo (1975)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Question regarding one scene skylab23
I don't get it oliverneale
Sudden philosophical exclamations charliewaterman66
Which DVD? teapotasterism
Viewing films after Tarkovsky's films brenanathome
The movie's titled 'Mirror' for a good reason. Tis not THAT complicated! exirkamalabadi
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Die Blechtrommel Novecento NaPolA Andrey Rublyov Come See the Paradise
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Biography section IMDb Soviet Union section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.