On a weekend trip to the countryside, Laura, a piano student from Berlin, miraculously survives an accident. Physically unhurt but deeply shaken, she is taken in by a local woman who witnessed the accident and now cares for Laura with motherly devotion. When her husband and adult son also give up their initial resistance to Laura's presence, the four of them slowly build up some family-like routine and spend some days of happiness together. But soon they can no longer ignore their past, and Laura has to come to terms with her own life.
The Garden Cinema View:
Christian Petzold returns with this small delight. This latest is partly a Rohmerian visit to the countryside, but with elements of a Bergman identity-slip chamber piece, and even Hitchcockian psychodrama. Working as usual with cinematographer Hand Fromm, Miroirs No. 3 is shot in Petzold’s typically light and unfussy style. This lends the drama, even as it turns mysterious and slightly sinister, a deftness of touch matched by the performance of Paula Beer. This is Beer’s fourth lead role for Petzold, and one that confirms them as one of the best actor-director collaborations in contemporary European cinema.
