Character Relationship Map: Mirror

Characters

• Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother (played by Margarita Terekhova) — protagonist

  Played by a single actress portraying both Aleksei's ex-wife Natalia and his mother Maria. She engages in testy phone calls and custody disputes with Aleksei, while also appearing in dream sequences w...

• Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old (played by Ignat Daniltsev) — protagonist

  Aleksei's son who shares custody with Natalia. He experiences deja vu, encounters a mysterious woman at tea, and serves as a focal point for parental arguments, bridging the present-day narrative with...

• Proofreader in Printing House (played by Tatyana Reshetnikova) — supporting
• Old Mother (played by Mariya Tarkovskaya-Vishnyakova) — minor
• Asafiev - War Orphan (played by Yuri Sventikov) — minor
• Nanny / Neighbour / Strange Woman at Tea Table (played by Tamara Ogorodnikova) — supporting

  Portrayed across multiple timeline fragments: first as a mysterious woman sharing tea with Ignat, and later as a neighbor Maria visits who pressures her into a difficult task. These appearances reflec...

• Rifle Shooting Instructor (played by Yuriy Nazarov) — supporting

  An instructor at a military school during WWII. He throws himself onto a perceived grenade to save children, only to discover it is a dummy, creating a tense wartime flashback sequence that underscore...

• The Father (played by Oleg Yankovskiy) — supporting

  Aleksei's estranged father who returns home after WWII. Despite Maria's lingering bitterness, the children greet him tearfully. He later asks a pregnant Maria about the sex of her unborn child, anchor...

• Aleksei - 5 Years Old (played by Filipp Yankovsky) — supporting

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Old Mother → Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old (Family Grandmother Figure) — Old Mother represents the family line continuing beyond Aleksei's lifetime.

  The elderly Maroussia walks through the meadow with children who resemble Aleksei and his sister.

• Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother → Old Mother (Temporal Older Self) — The older figure embodies the future implied by Maroussia's earlier life.

  The final sequence shows young Maroussia looking toward an elderly version of herself walking with children near the ruined dacha.

• Aleksei - 5 Years Old → Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother (Family Child And Mother) — His childhood is defined by searching for and observing his mother.

  Young Aleksei calls for his mother, searches the dacha, and finally sees her behind the outbuilding door peeling potatoes.

• Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old → Aleksei - 5 Years Old (Temporal Childhood Self) — The adult and childhood figures form a continuous memory-based identity.

  The film moves between adult Aleksei's memories and childhood scenes in which a young Aleksei explores the dacha.

• Rifle Shooting Instructor → Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old (Professional Military Instructor) — He represents the adult authority governing the wartime school.

  At the military school, the instructor admonishes a boy while supervising the group of children.

• Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother → Proofreader in Printing House (Professional Coworker) — Their workplace interaction becomes a harsh judgment of Maroussia's personal life.

  At the printing house, the proofreader criticizes Maroussia's neediness and searches with her for an imagined typographical error.

• Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother → Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old (Family Mother) — The character functions as both Ignat's mother and Aleksei's mother across the film's mirrored timelines.

  Natalya has custody of Ignat, while Maroussia is shown caring for her children before and after the war.

• The Father → Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old (Family Father) — He is the absent and returning patriarch of the family.

  The Father is shown as part of the children's family and later asks the pregnant Maroussia whether she hopes for a girl or a boy.

• The Father → Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother (Family Estranged Husband) — Their marriage is marked by separation, resentment, and lingering attachment.

  The doctor notes that Maroussia's husband has left her, and the father later returns after the war while she remains bitter.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Asafiev - War Orphan → Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old (Social Schoolmate) — He shares the wartime school environment with the young Aleksei.

  The orphan is among the boys who handle the grenade after it is pulled from his sack.

• Asafiev - War Orphan → Rifle Shooting Instructor (Conflict Defiant Student) — Their confrontation triggers the military school's most dangerous incident.

  The orphan is reprimanded by the instructor and retaliates by pulling a grenade from his sack.

• Nanny / Neighbour / Strange Woman at Tea Table → Natalya / Maroussia - the Mother (Social Neighbourly Acquaintance) — The neighbor is connected to Maroussia through an uneasy domestic encounter.

  Maroussia visits the neighbor's house, brings earrings, and discusses a private women's matter with her.

• Ignat / Alexei - 12 Years Old → Nanny / Neighbour / Strange Woman at Tea Table (Unknown Mysterious Encounter) — Their encounter blurs ordinary life, memory, and the supernatural.

  Ignat finds the woman having tea in the flat, reads a letter by Pushkin for her, and then sees her vanish while the condensation from her cup remains.

Story Analysis

Aleksei's fragmented memories connect family conflict, historical trauma, and the continuity of generations through recurring images of home and reflection.

Plot Progression

1. Ashes of the Dacha — Maroussia raises her children in the countryside while living with her husband's absence. The burning barn and surreal domestic images establish memory, loss, and maternal isolation.
2. Fractured Present — Adult Aleksei's illness and quarrels with his mother lead into his conflict with Natalia. The printing-house episode exposes Maroussia's vulnerability and the harsh judgments surrounding her.
3. The Son's Strange Inheritance — Ignat encounters a mysterious woman and a vanished letter-reading scene. Wartime memories, the military school, and the father's return connect private family history to national catastrophe.
4. Doors of Memory — Custody arguments and recurring images of the dacha reveal Aleksei's inability to resolve childhood separation. The home becomes a shifting space that is alternately closed, empty, and unexpectedly in...
5. The Meadow Beyond Time — Maroussia confronts love, loneliness, and a vision of the father before Aleksei reaches his deathbed. The final images merge childhood, old age, and family continuity beside the ruined dacha.