Post-Festival Review: Miroirs No. 3
Laura (Paula Beer) reluctantly agrees to accompany her boyfriend for an event outside of the city, but when they have a car accident in a small town they are passing through, she is taken in by local Betty (Barbara Auer). The two are inexplicably drawn to each other, but as Laura keeps spending time with Betty, and meets her son Max (Enno Trebs) and husband Richard (Matthias Brandt), she starts to wonder what’s going on with this family.
The way Christian Petzold uses audience curiosity as the building blocks for his story is remarkable. From the moment we meet Laura, alone by the riverbanks, we get a sense that she’s not okay. She goes back to her flat and her boyfriend Jakob (Philip Froissant) who seems more annoyed than concerned. As they take their trip, which is for Jakob, our attention and thoughts remain firmly focussed on Laura. What is going on with her?
Before the car accident, Linda and Jakob pass by Betty’s house, and there is one of those serendipitous moments that rarely happen in life. Laura and Betty lock eyes and an invisible energy courses through the screen. Petzold films this moment, and one just like it as Linda and Jakob pass by Betty’s house again on their way back, beautifully, unassumingly, and yet full of the kind of magic that stops time. We just know these two characters are destined to change each other’s lives in some way. But, how? Who is this woman?
The story unfolds from there, after a bizarre car accident with a shockingly gruesome element. Laura and Betty are kindred spirits, but once Max and Richard get into the picture, it quickly becomes clear that Betty is compensating for something while Laura is simply trying to get back to her old self.
It’s a rare feat for a film to keep the audience teetering on the edge of their seats in such an effortless way, just through the quiet interactions between four gentle souls. Broken dishwashers, cooking and eating dinner, playing the piano, listening to music at a garage, getting a bicycle fixed, painting the fence; this is what makes up the bulk of the action in Miroirs No. 3 and yet, it contains multitudes. There is so much buried pain here, that as it gets slowly unearthed, we are fully invested in these characters, as if they were our relatives or neighbours.
It’s one of the most engrossing films I saw at the London Film Festival, and as the scenes keep coming back to me in flashes, I keep marvelling at how Petzold can write a script so imperceptibly layered. The performances, especially from Beer and Auer, are essential glue and both shine in their own, subtle, ways. Not every curiosity will be satisfied, not every question will be answered, and you’ll never guess how that feeling of strange, loving satisfaction in the film’s climactic scene will be conjured up.
Miroirs No. 3 is an absolute marvel of a movie, one of the most sophisticated films I’ve seen in a long time.
Finally 🙏❤️