Miroirs No 3 Review: Christian Petzold's Elegantly Unnerving Mystery of Grief and Family Dysfunction
German director Christian Petzold, often hailed as the Chabrol of modern European cinema, presents an elegant and disquieting psychological mystery in Miroirs No 3. This film delves into themes of family dysfunction and grief, laying out the aftermath of a sudden violent trauma with unnerving precision. Unlike many contemporary British film-makers, Petzold crafts a story that carries more than a taste of PD James or Ruth Rendell, with a hint of Joseph Losey's Accident.
A Story of Trauma and Redemption
What makes Miroirs No 3 particularly interesting is its departure from macabre twists or chilling denouements. Instead, it heads toward something positive and even redemptive, layering the proceedings with a dreamlike and unreal atmosphere often found in Petzold's films. The film itself seems to have gone into a kind of shock, adding an infinitesimally surreal quality to the narrative.
Paula Beer's Compelling Performance
Petzold's longtime female lead, Paula Beer, stars as Laura, a brilliant pianist studying music in Berlin. Laura is clearly in a fragile and depressed state, stuck in an unhappy relationship with boorish would-be music mogul Jakob, played by Philip Froissant. The film builds tension until one fateful afternoon in the Brandenburg countryside, where Jakob loses control of his open-topped sports car.
The results are catastrophic for Jakob, but Laura, thrown clear from the passenger seat, miraculously survives with hardly more than a scratch. Before the crash, Laura briefly locks eyes with a hypnotically intense woman standing by the roadside, staring as if she has predicted or willed the imminent disaster.
The Enigmatic Betty and Family Secrets
This woman is Betty, portrayed by Barbara Auer, an intense presence also seen in Petzold's earlier movie Transit. Betty offers to let the badly shaken Laura stay with her, and they appear to set up home in Betty's pleasant but run-down house. Oddly, Laura is not bothered by authorities needing her testimony in any inquest.
Betty lives alone but seems to have clothes in Laura's size—young person's jeans and T-shirts—and encourages Laura to play the piano that she owns but doesn't play herself. Betty appears semi-estranged from her husband Richard, played by Matthias Brandt, and grown-up son Max, portrayed by Enno Trebs, who run a dodgy car-repair workshop and don't play the piano either.
In a moment of out-and-out unsubtlety, Betty accidentally calls her new guest "Yelena" before correcting that to "Laura." Petzold repeatedly shows moments where Betty, Richard, and Max try to conceal things from Laura or whisper little secrets, but Laura always catches them out. This raises the question: could Laura know what is happening and be silently complicit?
A Study of Unhappy Families
Miroirs No 3 is a highly diverting and elegantly contrived study of an unhappy family group and the cuckoo in its nest. Betty may be an emotionally damaged emotional parasite or predator, but so might Laura. The film explores these dynamics with psychological depth, culminating in Laura's performance of the third movement of Maurice Ravel's Miroirs, the dreamily rippling "A Boat on the Ocean," which gives the film its title.
This performance on stage symbolizes a potential path toward healing and redemption, reinforcing the film's positive undertones amidst the grief and dysfunction.
Release Information
Miroirs No 3 is set to be released in UK cinemas from 17 April, offering audiences a chance to experience Petzold's masterful blend of mystery and emotional resonance.
