I would use the means of cinema to talk of all that

was most precious to me, and do so directly, without

playing any kind of tricks
- Andrei Tarkovsky
(in The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky A Visual
Fugue, ed., Vida T Johnson & Graham Petrie)

ANDREI TARKOVSKYS

MIRROR
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3EPKAJIO - ZERKALO - ETYMOLOGY

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Zret, zerkat, zorkii, zrenie

looking
beholding
gazing
looking vigilantly, intently, perspicaciously at
something
to ripen
to mature

Zerkalo way of looking, and by association a process

of maturing and ripening

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

GENRE & THEME

Social drama, Womans Film, Biopic/semi-autobiographical,
Art Film (Story, McKee)
The central concern of exploring the relationship between
past (epitomised by memories, dreams of Alexei) and the
present.
It's about childhood and memory and the intensely personal
interplay of the two
Exclusion, longing, sense of loss
Relationship between Mother and son
Relationship between Father and son
Historical perspectives

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

14 MINUTE SEQUENCE (19MIN 10SEC TO 33 MIN

10 SEC)

FIRST PART (ALEXEIS FLAT 2min

13sec)
SECOND PART (MEMORY SEGMENT 11min 47sec - MARIA RUNNING TO
HER WORKPLACE)

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

REASONS FOR CHOOSING THIS

SEQUENCE

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The intense conversation over phone

apartment) of a mother and a dying son

The turmoil (internal and external) and agitation of the

mind that a working woman like Maria undergoes
especially in a hostile political environment and the
challenges she confronts are clearly outlined through
this sequence.

Arsenii Tarkovskys poem and Directors picturization

of the poem

Tarkovskys unique style vis--vis - Scorcese (Can I

trust you sequence Casino) or Ingrid Bergman
(Autumn Sonata) or Mizoguchi (Ugetsu) or Shyam
Benegal (Ankur)

Yet another film that I could relate to - on a deeply

personal level even though the Soviet History has no
bearing on my self

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(Alexeis

D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

ALEXEIS FLAT SEQUENCE PRESENT

TIME

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The camera starts exploring the space through a slow pan

and and extremely slow track-in over an off-screen
conversation

A French poster of Tarkovskys Andrei Rublev seen

The off-conversation is between the narrator (Alexei) and his

mother

The preceding black and white dream sequence as well the

countryside sequence are now well-placed for the audience
through retrospective understanding of this on-going offscreen conversation

Alexei tells his mother he has just dreamt about her

He further asks if father left in 1936 or 1937 leading a

Soviet viewer to think he may have been arrested during the
Stalinist purges and when was it the barn burned down. She
tells him it was 1935 clearly situating the events when the
narrator Alexei was a 5-year old child

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ALEXEIS FLAT

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ALEXEIS FLAT MES ELEMENTS

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Flat is filled with textures: darkly painted walls, tiles, polished floors, old,
torn wall paper, splitting plaster, lace, glass jar with flowers, drapes in a
thick wooden frame

Through the large windows, we catch glimpses of the run-down corridor

outside the front door and the courtyard, where Ignat is later seen stoking
the bonfire he has made

It is a place weighed down by painful memories, conflicts, arguments and

impending death

The mother refers to Lisa and her death Alexei asks why they fight all the
time and asks his mother to forgive him even as she hangs up the phone
triggers the Memory segment (POINTING DEVICE)

The slow track-in towards the window carries an off-screen sound of a

bus/tram announcing the stop for the printing press even as we cut to see
Maria running towards the press - in the memory segment (flashback)

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MARIAS RUN TOWARDS THE PRINTING

PRESS

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MARIAS RUN TO THE WORK PLACE

CONTD

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MARIAS WORK PLACE

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REAL TIME TO SLOW MOTION TO REAL

TIME TRANSITION

Heightens Strangeness, The imperceptible slow motion used in these

scenes retards her movement, thus prolonging her mute fear, sense of
urgency, making them more palpable time living in the frame

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

MARIA CHECKS THE

PROOFS

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PRINTING PRESS MES ELEMENTS

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Stalins terror recreated in the printing works - sequence filmed in

Black & White

It is dominated by rows of desks, large black rhythmic presses and

long mostly empty corridors.

Unnaturally shining light bulbs fill the room

The heavy metallic mechanical presence of the presses is offset by

the plants a fixture of every Soviet workplace filling the window
sills and hanging from the ceiling

On the walls are posters with slogans of the time and more
disturbingly portraits of the most two feared men of the system
Felix Dzerzhinsky, the notorious head of the Cheka (Bolshevik Secret
Police) from 1919 until his death in 1926 and Stalin himself

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

PRINTING PRESS MES ELEMENTS

CONTD

The camera does not linger on these portraits but it

registers them as it tracks through these spaces
following Marias nervous movements through endless
corridors strewn with large rolls of paper in search of the
proofs.
Everything is understated, internalised until Lisas
sudden eruption which provides an outlet for the tension
the two women have experienced in this potentially life
threatening situation.
Tarkovsky communicates everything through the sound
track, MES elements, terse dialogue, camera movements

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

ARSENII TARKOVSKYS POEM

I waited for you since yesterdays morning
That you wont come, they probably guessed
Remember what a beautiful weather it was
A Holiday Weather
And I walked coatless
Today youre here
And they have arranged
An utterly gloomy and cloudy day
It rains
And its getting unusually late
The rain drops run down the cold terrain

Talks about a belated

meeting on a gloomy,
rainy day
The
poem
clearly
reflects
Marias
unhappy marriage, as
also the frightening
situation
she
just
experienced

Unsoothable by word, unwipable by hand

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

PICTURISATION OF THE POEM

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MARIA WHISPERS TO LISA THE WORD

SHE THOUGHT SHE HAD MISPRINTED

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UNEXPECTED MOOD CHANGE RAPID BEAT

CHANGES

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

COMIC FRUSTRATION IN MARIA AS THE

SOVIET PLUMBING FAILS

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MEMORY OF
FIRE?

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PRINTING PRESS EPISODE - WHOSE MEMORY IS

IT?
The mention of Lisas name on phone triggers this
flash back
It is clearly a flash back
The perspective is that of the mother Maria and not
the narrator who plays no part in it but can only know
of it from hearsay
It could also be a memory of Alexei as Marias memoir
Nevertheless, this event forms part of the context of
fear and suspicion that has shaped his own and his
mothers lives and the lives of their contemporaries

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

PRINTING PRESS TRIVIA

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Tarkovskys mother worked as a proof reader all her

life at First Obraztsavo Printing works very near their
flat

The events described did not happen to his mother

but to another proof reader who was fired for making
the mistake and was corrected while still in the proofs.

Her fate could have been much worse since mistakes

in official publications was considered a political crime
during Stalins reign

Questions about - Whose memory is it? Alexei? Or

Marias?

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

TARKOVSKY AFTER MAKING MIRROR

(1975)
Childhood memories which for years had
given me no peace suddenly vanished, as if they
had melted away, and at last I stopped
dreaming about the house where I had lived so
many years before

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I

THANK YOU

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D E V U L A PA L L I , C . , J U N I O R T E R M , W W I