Zerkalo is an elusive autobiographical film poem in which Tarkovsky implicitly mixes his own childhood memories of the Russian countryside with a collective (Russian) history.
Factory worker Küsters, faced with the threat of redundancy, kills his boss and commits suicide. His widow finds herself deserted by her family and friends, until a wealthy communist couple decide to make political capital from her plight.
Milestones maps the different paths taken by the New Left in the early 1970s. This lilting, free-associative masterpiece follows over fifty characters as they try to reconcile their ideals with the reality of American life.
“In the production diary from the editing, there were many discussions about life and the ethics of filming people who are facing death. For example, on January 2, 1975, there was such a conversation between Tamura and Ogawa.
“Upon its release in Europe and the United States in 1975–76, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Fox and His Friends (Faustrecht der Freiheit, 1975) disappointed many European and American gay critics. In their reviews, these critics criticized the film from two dominant perspectives.
“When I begin to consider a film project, I always have in mind a number of ideas that feel as if they would be the sort of thing I’d like to film. From among these one will suddenly germinate and begin to sprout; this will be the one I grasp and develop.
“Money, well-timed and properly applied, can accomplish anything.”
Barry Lyndon’s mother
“The problematic relation between a woman’s daily routine and her creative everyday is dramatically highlighted through the flight into a secluded room – in which the stakes of her art will be proven.
“History is the first aporia of his work. One could easily refer to the famous letter by Friedrich Engels, that history as it happened is something that no one ever wanted.
Sam Adams: That’s very much the feeling of watching Jeanne Dielman, where the repetitive ritual of her daily chores forges a connection with the viewer that’s practically physical, to the extent that you feel a jolt when she drops the shoe that she’s shining, or lets
