MirrorU

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky | Soviet Union | 1975 | 1h 47m | Russian w/ English subtitles | Starring Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovskiy, Nikolay Grinko, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ignat Daniltsev

In 20th-century Russia, a poet relives his past in the fading moments of consciousness. His memories unfold through vivid visions of childhood, wartime, and married life, blending personal moments with the broader sweep of Soviet history and the quiet beauty of everyday existence. Using a nonlinear structure rich with dreams and flashbacks, director Andrei Tarkovsky crafts a deeply personal meditation on war, memory, and time, drawing inspiration from his own experiences.

Join us on Sunday 25th May (3pm) for a screening introduced by Ally Pitts, host of A Russian & Soviet Movie Podcast (since 2017).

Reviews

‘Visually stunning, baffling and intensely personal, the result is also impossibly ambiguous – but stick with it. Cinema rarely gets this close to poetry in motion.’
★★★★
Jonathan Crocker, BBC

‘The Mirror deserves a big-screen viewing, with its smorgasbord of memories in dream, drama and newsreel form from the life of a dying poet.’
★★★★
Kate Muir, The Times

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Mirror between May 25, 2025 and May 26, 2025.

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What else is on?

Today (Tuesday 23rd June)

18:00

The Ascent 12A
£6 for Members
1h 50m | Russian & German w/ English subtitles
Two soldiers on a wartime mission face betrayal and impossible choices. Larisa Shepitko’s powerful, haunting war drama is both a gripping survival story and a deeply moving meditation on sacrifice and moral courage during conflict.

Book here

20:30

Madfabulous 12A
£6 for Members
1h 48m
1890s North Wales. Young aristocrat Henry Paget inherits an estate and scandalises polite society. Inspired by a true story, this riotous period drama stars Callum Scott Howells and Rupert Everett in a joyful celebration of spectacle, self-expression, and refusing to conform.

Book here


Tomorrow (Wednesday 24th June)

14:45

Naked 18
2h 6m
A restless drifter prowls London’s night streets, clashing with everyone he meets. Mike Leigh’s darkly comic, provocative character study is driven by David Thewlis’s electrifying performance as one of cinema’s most unforgettable antiheroes.

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18:00

Backrooms 15
1h 45m
When a patient vanishes through a strange basement doorway of a furniture showroom, his therapist follows him into a disorienting dimension. Expanding Kane Parsons’ cult online series, this feature-length adaptation stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve and bringing “liminal horror” to the big screen.

Book here

20:30

Gummo 18
35mm Presentation
1h 29m
In a forgotten Midwestern town, a group of outsiders drift through a series of strange, unsettling encounters. Gummo is a raw, unconventional cult film that captures the surreal edges of everyday life in America. Presented on 35mm film.

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Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!