The Mirror (Russian: Зеркало, Zerkalo; known in the UK as Mirror, Mosfilm,1974) is a Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is loosely autobiographical, blending childhood memories, newsreel footage and poems by his father Arseny Tarkovsky.
The film features Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev, Tarkovsky's wife Larisa Tarkovskaya, Alla Demidova and Anatoli Solonitsyn. The Mirror has no apparent plot. Instead it rhythmically combines contemporary scenes with childhood memories and newsreel footage.
At various points in the film poems by Tarkovsky's father are recited. The loose flow of visually oniric images has been compared to the stream of consciousness technique in literature. Its complex yet simultaneously simple structure makes The Mirror one of Tarkovsky's most difficult films, as well as his most personal.
Today The Mirror is widely regarded as a masterpiece and one of Tarkovsky's best works. The concept of The Mirror dates as far back as 1964. Over the years Tarkovsky wrote several screenplay variants, at time working together with Aleksandr Misharin. This script was initially not approved by the film committee of Goskino, and only after several years of waiting Tarkovsky would be allowed to realize The Mirror. At various times the script was known under different names, most notably Confession and A White, White Day. The completed film was initially rejected by Goskino, and after some delay only given a limited release in the Soviet Union.
