- Artist Johanna Faust is about to leave her children to finally devote herself to her art again. A vague memory comes to her mind: didn't her grandmother do the same thing, with terrible consequences?
- To what degree can motherhood and self-fulfilment be reconciled? Johanna Faust would like to leave her children and her husband behind in order to pursue her artistic development. The monotonous daily routine at home has led her deeper and deeper into solitude. When a graspable invitation to study art at Oxford is on the table, doubts arise: suppressed memories from childhood and Johanna's own mother surface. Did she not have to experience that which Johanna plans to do to her own children? In search of an answer, Johanna, her husband and children embark on a journey into the history of her family, which takes them from Switzerland through the USA to the Mexican desert. «I'll be your mirror» is the intimate portrait of three generations of women, torn between social expectations, children's needs and their own desires. Johanna feels increasingly lonely and unfulfilled in her day-to-day life with her partner and their three children. She longs to immerse herself in her artwork again. An invitation to study for a master's degree at an art school in Oxford presents the perfect opportunity. But can she really leave her children? Is a mother allowed to do this? Her partner supports her decision and will look after the children, but Johanna still has doubts. She has dark memories of her grandmother also leaving the family at a young age to devote herself to art, with dire consequences for Johanna's mother. But what actually happened back then? Her family never really talks about it. Johanna senses that she must first get to the bottom of her own family history before she can make a decision about art school. With her husband and children in tow, she embarks on a journey deep into the past that takes her from Switzerland, to the United States, to the deserts of Mexico. Layer by layer, memory by memory, she unveils the stories of four generations of women, all of whom have struggled with their roles as mothers, with society's expectations, and with the painful, often-unsolvable conflicts that inevitably arose between their own desires and the needs of their children. «I'll be your mirror» is a road movie that examines this taboo subject in an extraordinarily personal way. With unsparing honesty and captivating imagery, the film explores how inter-generational disturbances can unknowingly, and profoundly, impact our lives.
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