Miroirs No. 3 / Mirrors No. 3

Christian Petzold: Miroirs No. 3 / Mirrors No. 3 (DE 2025). Philip Froissant (Jakob), Paula Beer (Laura) and Barbara Auer (Betty),

Germany 2025.

Director: Christian Petzold

Starring: Paula Beer, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Enno Trebs, Philip Froissant

Maurice Ravel: Miroirs 3: Une barque sur l'océan (1905)

Frédéric Chopin: Prelude No. 4

Pianist: Adriana von Franqué

    Language: German

    86 min

    Distributor: The Match Factory. Subtitles: English

    Love & Anarchy 38th Helsinki International Film Festival (HIFF).

    Viewed at Bio Rex Lasipalatsi, Helsinki, Sat 20.9. at 18.45–20.11

Pöly Julkunen (HIFF 2025): "Christian Petzold’s latest film is a minimalist, Hitchcockian chamber drama in which the presence of a recovering stranger forces a family to face the ghosts of their past."

"German arthouse film maestro Christian Petzold (Afire, R&A 2024) brings another cinematic gem to the big screen. Mirrors No. 3 is an understated chamber drama built around mystery, drawing on Petzold’s Hitchcockian mise-en-scène and visual storytelling."

"Laura (the dazzling Paula Beer, a familiar face in Petzold’s films) is a piano student who miraculously survives a car accident almost unscathed. She is taken in by Betty, an elderly woman who was the first to arrive at the scene, and recovers in her ramshackle country house. Betty is ready to take the stranger immediately into her tender, motherly care. However, Betty’s husband and son are more reserved in their hospitality towards Laura. Laura’s arrival brings the alienated family together to repair both neglected relationships and their estate. Beneath the polished surface of their renewed family life, the painful ghosts of the past emerge."

"Petzold skilfully creates a veil of family secrets with meaningful silences, glances, and emotional outbursts. Music—especially the beautiful piano piece by Maurice Ravel that gives the film its title—plays a subtle role as the interpreter of repressed emotions." Pöly Julkunen (translated by Pauliina Jännes)

"Petzoldin uutuus on vähäeleinen, hitchcockilainen kamaridraama, jossa onnettomuudesta toipuvan vieraan läsnäolo pakottaa perheen kohtaamaan menneisyytensä haamut."

"Saksalainen arthouse-elokuvan mestari Christian Petzold (Punainen taivas, R&A 2024) tuo valkokankaille jälleen pienen, upean elokuvahelmen. Mirrors No. 3 on vähäeleinen, mysteerin ympärille rakentuva kamaridraama, joka nojaa Petzoldille ominaiseen hitchcockmaiseen asetelmaan ja kuvakerrontaan."

"Auto-onnettomuudesta lähes naarmutta ihmeen kaupalla selviävä pianonsoiton opiskelija Laura (Petzoldin vakiokasvo, häikäisevä Paula Beer) jää toipumaan ensimmäisenä onnettomuuspaikalle saapuneen vanhemman naisen, Bettyn, ränsistyneeseen maalaistaloon. Betty on valmis ottamaan vieraan välittömästi äidillisen hellään huomaansa. Varauksellisemmin Lauraan ja Bettyn vieraanvaraisuuteen suhtautuvat kuitenkin tämän mies ja poika. Lauran ilmaantuminen tuo toisistaan etääntyneen perheen yhteen korjaamaan sekä laiminlyötyjä suhteita että tiluksia. Uudistuneen perhedynamiikan julkisivun takaa pyrkivät esiin kuitenkin menneisyyden kipeät haamut."

"Petzold luo taidokkaasti perhesalaisuuksien verhoa tempovan jännitteen merkitsevin hiljaisuuksin, katsein ja tunteenpurkauksin. Musiikilla – erityisesti Maurice Ravelin elokuvalle nimen antavalla kauniilla pianoteoksella – on hienovireinen rooli tukahdutettujen tunteiden tulkkina." Pöly Julkunen

AA: Christian Petzold's Miroirs No. 3 stands out among the films I have seen so far at the 2025 edition of the Helsinki International Film Festival in one respect: it has a strong compelling drive from the beginning to the end. All the other films I have seen have felt overlong or losing their grip at times.

This quality of intensity is one of the secrets and miracles of Miroirs No. 3, which remains a mystery even after the plot mystery has been solved.

Miroirs No. 3 is seemingly plot-driven, and the plot is not trivial. It is about healing from a trauma through a transference of love. It goes both ways. Betty has lost the dearest person in her life. Laura has also lost a partner. But with her, there is an absence of affect. 

It seems that even before the car accident, Laura has lost her sense of purpose, even her sense of self, and still more ominously, her will to live. This is the fatal connection between Laura and Yelena (Betty's daughter) and the subject of the movie. There is a profound affinity with L'avventura by Michelangelo Antonioni.

But the subject is not pursued in the plot. The suspense plot keeps the movie going, but the way the subject unfolds is image-driven.

The images are haunting.

The woman on the bridge and by the water.

The windswept curtains.

The rainswept windshields.

The strange look of Betty.

The curious gazes of the passers-by.

Food, all-important.

Königsberger Klopse (meatballs) and Pflaumkuchen (plum cake).

As well as drink.

Coffee, tea, water, wine and beer.

Women are creatures of culture.

Books and piano.

Men live in Tekniikan Maailma, the world of machines and technology.

Fixing the faucet, the dishwasher and the bicycle and tuning the piano.

Women also paint the fence (like Tom Sawyer) and do the gardening.

A recurrent motif is losing control of one's vehicle, be it car or bicycle.

A significant side motif is about Betty's son Max who runs a garage. Among his skills is deactivating the GPS from cars, because many customers reject the feature that enables constant surveillance.

Miroirs No. 3, named after a composition by Maurice Ravel, is also sound-driven.

The call of the crane is the most important Leitmotif.

There is a dialogue about determining the Tonart - the key. And of course the motif of tuning the piano of Betty's deceased daughter Yelena.

Laura returns to Berlin and participates in a concert of her art university. Betty, Richard and Max sneak in. Laura's performance is like a river of pearls. Transcendence through art.

In world-building, Petzold triumphs.

What remains is an intensity of being, Dasein.