”Who knew, mirrors, describe never inside your obscure being” (Rilke) – that’s how Muriel Paraboni’s ‘Eventide‘ begins, giving you a slight hint about the journey in which you’re going to be engaged, and mesmerized till the end. Inspired by Tarkovski’s ’’The Mirror’’, the opening scene provides a certain mood highlighted by the natural surroundings: the landscape of the beach and, most important of them all, the water movement that brings and takes with it every memory and emotion that in the end dilutes in the noisy waves in a very poetic way, making it the perfect metaphor for the root of everything or how life events come and go. Moreover, all this scenes are enhanced by the score that conveys a melancholic atmosphere, underlying the character’s emotions – the real purpose of Paraboni’s journey.

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We all get to survey our life at some point, even if this is when we get old or at the end of the day. Filled with a nostalgia illustrated through numerous flashbacks, the memories of the main character are getting more pointed over time, especially when he becomes aware of his transiency by mirroring his image through memories. But he doesn’t get to live just to collect memories. This short film talks about how we should enjoy the journey and cherish every moment of life, because life is ephemeral.

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The fragmented narrative develops a melodramatic story – past, present and future blend in a time full of emotional perspectives and we get to follow the rest of the characters through the man’s point of view. In this way, the audience experience the emotional perspective of the character, although, at the same time, the voice over is the real key that leads you throughout the whole itinerary. The beautifully shot close-ups are used to focus the attention on certain details, in order to make the situations from this film more intimate and the low-key lighting makes some scenes become dream-like, with rich imagery. The chromatic game stands out, pointing certain moments of the speaker’s revision and adding to the struggle of passing through his memories in a very lyrical way. The man is characterized with the help of the mise-en-scène, apparently minimalist: a bike, a lamp, a bowl, a bed - all this helps you concentrate on the real meaning of everything that you see, so you don’t get tangled in details.

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The picture composition, the visual effects, the odd structured narrative and all the other details from this short film beautifully blend in the atmosphere full of nostalgia, that gradually grows while the man is mirroring its image back. Muriel Paraboni’s film is truly impressive and a great piece of cinematography, shot in a very minimalist yet effective way.