Paula Beer, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Enno Trebs
Please note: Miroirs No. 3 was due to play in the online programme but is now in-person only due to an issue on materials.
Filled with rippling piano music, the new film from German auteur Christian Petzold (Barbara, Transit, Phoenix, Undine, Afire) is a sly, mysterious psychodrama starring his frequent collaborator Paula Beer, whose repeat presence in his films is starting to feel like an integral part of their ambiguous playfulness. Spare in style, Miroirs No. 3 nevertheless unfurls into an increasingly complex study of grief, trauma and the psychic encroachment of the past.
On a trip to the countryside, Laura (Beer), a piano student from Berlin, miraculously survives a horrific car crash. Deeply shaken, she is taken in by Betty (Barbara Auer), a local woman who begins caring for her with motherly devotion. As Betty’s husband (Matthias Brandt) and son (Enno Trebs) give up their initial resistance to Laura’s presence, the foursome find some happiness in a new, family-like routine. But when the past intrudes, Betty and Laura must come to terms with their own lives.
