Mirrors No. 3

A piano student living in Berlin, Laura (Paula Beer) goes on a brief countryside trip with her boyfriend. The trip is important to the boyfriend, but Laura seems absent-minded. When her boyfriend suddenly dies in a car crash, Laura is left in the care of a local woman. She settles into the woman’s house so well that she stays even after she has recovered.

Having become acquainted with the woman’s husband and adult son, Laura seems to become a member of the family and begins to enjoy her new life: riding a bike, painting a wooden fence, and gardening. Nosy passersby and strange occurrences, however, raise questions about the family’s true motives. 

Titled after a piano suite by Ravel, Mirrors No. 3 is the latest film by acclaimed German director Christian Petzold, clearly more modest in scope compared to some of his historical and mythical narratives. Yet instead of building grand suspense, the mysterious film brings us back to basics by depicting what it is like to be alive. The film had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight selection at the Cannes Film Festival. 

Ilpo Hirvonen