Cinema
The Mirror
آینه
Jafar Panahi · 1997
Synopsis
At the end of the school day, Mina, a first-year schoolgirl with her arm in a cast, waits in vain for her mother. She decides to go home alone across Tehran: she takes the wrong bus, is helped by strangers, meets others who are indifferent, and hears adults talking about things beyond her understanding. Then, in the middle of a journey, the little actress looks at the camera, tears off her cast, declares that she no longer wants to act and gets off the bus; the crew chooses to follow her.
Context
The author's second feature film, produced by Rooz Film with Vahid Nikkhah-Azad, the film was written, edited and directed by him, with cinematography by Farzad Jadat. Mina Mohammad Khani, who had already worked under his direction, plays Mina. The shift occurs around the fortieth minute: the crew, filmed by a second camera in 16 mm, tries to convince the child, then follows her at a distance with the main camera and the microphone she is still wearing. The author wanted to show in it how much reality and imagination resemble each other.
Who it is for
A Persian-language film, an hour and a half long, in colour. You should know that the film changes nature halfway through, and that the second half plays on the uncertainty between documentary and fiction.
Prizes and reception
Golden Leopard at the Locarno festival in 1997, and one of the films that brought its author recognition outside Iran.