{"id":26835,"date":"2023-08-15T02:29:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T09:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26835"},"modified":"2023-08-15T02:29:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T09:29:09","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-broken-mirrors-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26835","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: BROKEN MIRRORS (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This feature film is now available on Blu-ray from Cult\nEpics.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1995, Dutch writer\/director Marleen Gorris earned a lot of attention for her feminist drama, Antonia\u2019s Line<\/em>. Curiously enough, it wasn\u2019t a huge success in its home country, yet the picture became a hit abroad and ultimately won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The feature was also noteworthy in that it was the first movie directed by a woman to earn this cinematic honor. Of course, Antonia\u2019s Line<\/em> wasn\u2019t Gorris\u2019 cinematic debut, as she had previously been making films for several years in the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broken Mirrors<\/em> aka Gebroken Spiegels<\/em> was the\nsecond narrative effort as writer\/director. The film, about the nasty conditions\nfaced by women working in an Amsterdam brothel, pulled no punches and created controversy\nduring its release in the Netherlands. In fact, it ended up winning more accolades\nat international festivals than at home and wasn\u2019t seen by large audiences. But\nas the years have passed, the title\u2019s reputation has grown. In fact, it has now\nbeen restored in 4K from the original camera negative and is officially being\nreleased on Blu-ray in North America by Cult Epics. It\u2019s a powerful movie that\nlooks really impressive with its image upgrade and will likely win over an even\nlarger number of fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diane (Lineke Rijxman) is a mother with a young infant who has\nbeen left to fend for herself. Her husband is a drug-addict who wants no part\nof raising their child. With no employment options left, the lead makes the\nacquaintance of prostitute Dora (Henriette Tol) and decides to try working at a\nbrothel. After dropping her child off with a neighbor, Diane spends her evenings\nworking with other ladies in service of their male clientele. One of the other\nemployees warns, “All men are bastards. Even the nice ones aren’t\nnice,” and viewers see evidence of this over the entire 108 minutes. Diane\nattempts to keep it together, but finds herself pushed to the limits as she endures\nboth subtle and blunt forms of abuse. As if that isn\u2019t enough, the film also follows\nan unseen serial killer who kidnaps a victim and torments her. As it turns out,\nhe also may be one of the brothel\u2019s frequent clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie benefits greatly from its cast and performances. The stars don\u2019t look like Hollywood celebrities, but real people. Conversations between Diane, Dora and the other ladies of the brothel feel more authentic than other movies of the era and the film places a lot of attention on their backstories and what has forced them into the industry. For most, they are supporting children and families both at home, and sometimes abroad. The women are very sympathetic, making their trials tough to watch. Additionally, there is unique material presented about seemingly mundane brothel operations. The opening and closing scenes are particularly effective, showing us a stoic cleaning woman changing sheets and removing various messes in the rooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Character bits and details involving aspects one wouldn\u2019t initially\nthink about are the film\u2019s strongest elements. The serial killer subplot does at\ntimes feel like a bit of an extended tangent. It doesn\u2019t play out as expected or\nresult in a confrontation that will please an average moviegoer. However, the use\nof the character does add another layer of heaviness to the proceedings. And as\nyou may already have guessed, while the brutal acts of the psychopath are\nincredibly harrowing to witness, the behavior displayed by various strangers in\nthe company of the prostitutes at times feels almost as punishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yes, the movie is blunt in its delivery and does depict males in an almost uniformly horrible light. But why would one expect a quiet and subtle approach from what is essentially a protest movie showing viewers how prostitutes are regularly mistreated? The approach certainly works as a more honest depiction of the profession and brings light to the indignities forced upon many sex trade workers. It\u2019s very compelling and well-made movie that likely plays much better with audiences today than it ever would have during its original release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the movie looks quite striking and is very\nwell shot. There are some intimidating shots of silhouettes at the door of the\nestablishment that make an impression. And the sepia-toned serial killer sequences\nadd a further iciness to the movie that does chill to the bone. Overall, it\u2019s a\nvery well-shot movie with the filmmaker\u2019s unique personal stamp all over it. It\nhas sympathetic characters, moves quickly and makes its point efficiently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Blu-ray also comes with a film historian commentary\ntrack featuring Peter Verstraten, an expert on Danish cinema. He offers some\ninsight on the production as well as the controversy surrounding the film\u2019s\nexhibition in the 80s. A number of local critics responded very negatively to it\nand its depictions of male characters. Verstraten admits that the movie sometimes\ngoes to unnecessary extremes to make its point, but also notes that the film is\nunique, approaching its themes from a different perspective that hadn\u2019t been\nattempted before. He also notes that the Blu-ray transfer is remarkable,\nlooking sharper and cleaner than ever before. There are some lengthy unrelated tangents\ninvolving Danish movie history, but generally speaking the track is intriguing\nand informative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an interesting 1991 interview from Danish TV\nwith an American sex worker discussing the need for unionization and more\nprotection in the sex trade industry. Again, the extra adds more detail about\nthe subject and presents a fascinating discussion between the figure and the host\nof the program. The disc also contains a promotional gallery of stills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broken Mirrors<\/em> may not have been seen by many upon\nits initial release, but it clearly was ahead of its time and will speak to\nmodern audiences. The performers are strong and it effectively depicts the\nstruggles of prostitutes and the unpleasantness that goes on behind closed\ndoors. Visually, the movie looks dynamic (probably better than it did when it actually\nplayed in cinemas). For anyone curious about this title, the new Cult Epics Blu-ray\nis well worth picking up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature film is now available on Blu-ray from Cult Epics. In 1995, Dutch writer\/director Marleen Gorris earned a lot of attention for her feminist drama, Antonia\u2019s Line. Curiously enough, it wasn\u2019t a huge success in its home country, yet the picture became a hit abroad and ultimately won an Academy Award for Best Foreign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[116,1626,2933,2939,3073,3582,3583,3584,3596,4983,4987,5170,6251,9074,12457,13279,16444],"class_list":["post-26835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-116","tag-antonias-line-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-broken-mirrors","tag-broken-mirrors-blu-ray","tag-broken-mirrors-blu-ray-review","tag-brothel","tag-cult","tag-cult-epics","tag-danish","tag-drama","tag-henriette-tol","tag-lineke-rijxman","tag-marleen-gorris","tag-prostitutes"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}