In the wake of a traumatic incident, a young woman forms a surrogate mother-daughter relationship with her rescuer. As emotional walls come down, doubts arise: is there more to the care offered than simple kindness?
As compact as a novella, as ephemeral in its emotion, as delicate in register as one of the Chopin or Ravel pieces that float through it.
Mirrors No. 3 2025
Miroirs No. 3
Laura and Betty seem to be poles apart. Laura, a young, city dwelling music student, lives in an apartment with her boyfriend; Betty has an adult son and lives alone in rural Germany. Their lives are thrown together after a car accident leaves Laura in the care of the older woman. Despite ostensible differences, each recognises a familiar melancholy in the other. As a tentative trust grows, the women find something unlocking within themselves, even as complicating factors emerge, in the form of Betty’s opaque family situation.
Master dramatist Christian Petzold reunites with frequent acting collaborator Paula Beer (Transit, Undine, Afire) and regular DOP Hans Fromm, turning his pen and camera to a smaller scale domestic drama. Mirrors No. 3 (named for a Ravel piano piece played within) makes visual and thematic echoes back to Petzold’s previous work: from extended bike rides down rural lanes (Barbara), to the centrality of a piano (Phoenix), as well as the thread of mysterious tension that underlies them all. The film revels in the messy, stimulating complexities of human relationships, exploring the way that sometimes even questionable motivations can affect positive outcomes. — Jacob Powell