MIROIRS NO. 3 Luminaries

In their fourth collaboration to date, director Christian Petzold and actress Paula Beer forge an enigmatic depiction of haunting loss and mysterious connection. After surviving a car crash that kills her boyfriend, Laura (Beer), a music student at university, is taken in by Betty (Barbara Auer), an older woman who witnessed the accident. Betty cares for the unharmed but shaken Laura with a motherly devotion, and soon, Betty, her husband and their adult son are treating Laura like one of the family. Petzold imbues this close-quarters drama with atmospheric tension, agitating even the warmest domestic scenes with the disquiet of unspoken history. At its center, Beer beguiles with unnerving presence, condensing her performance into precise gestures and a steady gaze. The result is a crystalline cinematic object, both compact and faceted, refracting shades of grief, desire and trespass. –Travis Weedon