Miroirs No. 3

2025 1h 26m DE

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 57

DramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Paula Beer
Laura
Barbara Auer
Betty
Matthias Brandt
Richard
Enno Trebs
Max
Philip Froissant
Jakob
Victoire Laly
Debbi
Marcel Heupermann
Roger
Christian Koerner
Laura's Father

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christian Petzold
Writers: Christian Petzold
Languages: German
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

86 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Christian Petzold, shot by Hans Fromm. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Paula Beer and Barbara Auer and Matthias Brandt carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt32247943 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

Only 57 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christian Petzold directs. Hans Fromm behind the camera. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released last year.
3Directed by Christian Petzold, shot by Hans Fromm. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Paula Beer and Barbara Auer and Matthias Brandt carry the top of the cast.
5IMDB entry: tt32247943 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
6Only 57 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
7Classified under 9 themes, including "countryside", "car accident", "pianist", "female pianist".

The technical file

Cinematography: Hans Fromm
Production design: Klaus-Dieter Gruber
Makeup / hair: Hannah Fischleder
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Status: Released
Box office: $827,346
Original language: DE
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Miroirs No. 3 (2025)

Also by

Christian Petzold

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Brent Marchant2026-03-25
★ 5/10
For what it’s worth, some movies are just plain forgettable. That’s especially true when a picture’s narrative is driven by a slew of ambiguities, leaving viewers wondering what the film is actually about. And that approach, for whatever purpose it supposedly serves, characterizes many of the works of writer-director Christian Petzold, who employs it once again in his latest offering. Laura (Paula Beer), a listless, ostensibly withdrawn music student at a Berlin university, embarks on a weekend getaway to the German countryside with her partner, Jakob (Philip Froissant), and two friends (Hendrik Heutmann, Victoire Laly). But, while on a stop in their journey, Laura says she’s not feeling well and would like to return home, a source of noticeable irritation for her boyfriend. He brusquely agrees to drive her to a nearby train station, but, while on the way there, the couple is involved in a horrific car accident in which Jakob is killed. Laura, fortunately, only suffers minor injuries, a revelation that surfaces when she’s found by a mysterious middle-aged woman, Betty (Barbara Auer), who lives in a nearby rundown country home. Laura turns down an offer to go to a hospital for further care but asks, inexplicably, if she can stay with Betty while she recovers, a request that strikes her rescuer as unusual but to which she agrees. Laura thus begins convalescing at the stranger’s home, a relationship that surprisingly benefits both parties. But many questions arise that remain sufficiently unanswered, especially when Betty’s estranged husband, Richard (Matthias Brandt), and son, Max (Enno Trebs), enter the picture after what appears to be a lengthy absence. To say more at this point would reveal too much, but suffice it to say that the story ambles along somewhat aimlessly while strategically dropping hints about what may be going on behind the scenes. In actuality, the big (though questionably anticipated) reveal that eventually emerges isn’t particularly difficult to figure out beforehand. But, despite its long-awaited disclosure, a plethora of ancillary unexplained matters remains that are never adequately addressed (e.g., what’s behind Laura’s initially despondent attitude, why does she want to stay with Betty when she was originally so anxious to return home to Berlin, how and why did Betty become estranged from Richard and Max, to name just a few). And those oversights are especially strange given the picture’s comparatively short 1:26:00 runtime. In a nutshell, this all speaks to an inherently thin, underdeveloped plot that could have easily been elaborated upon for greater clarity without turning into an unduly long release. Why that didn’t happen truly escapes me, though it’s also not surprising in light of Petzold’s repertoire. That, however, is also what ultimately makes “Miroirs No. 3” such an eminently forgettable film, one that will likely disappear from the cinematic radar not long after its current release. Truthfully, though, there’s not much to recommend here, so this is one that can readily be skipped without missing much.

Production companies