The Mirror Has Two Faces

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 1:41pm

I just finished watching it. I hadn't seen it in a long time. What do you guys think? A movie with a message or a sappy piece of fluff?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 1:46pm

Fact: Streisand actually postponed directing THE NORMAL HEART to do this. Larry Kramer--certain he was going to die before seeing his play made into a movie--was so furious he took the rights away. It's okay. Not Richard LaGrevenese's best writing by far.

[Dark_Angel]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 1:49pm

Thanks for that info borstalboy. I did not know this. Interesting...

[BwayLover]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 2:23pm

I like this movie a lot. Disregarding the fact Barbra postponed filming THE NORMAL HEART for it, I think it is a worthy film. I like its message and the way it is carried out - and I love Barbra's chemistry with Jeff Bridges and especially Lauren Bacall.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 2:25pm

I remember Kramer saying that Barbra was more interested in doing a movie about plastic surgery than one about AIDS.

[Flippancy]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 2:28pm

I thought MIRROR...FACES was lock-and-stock Streisand schlock. I mean, did we really need another Streisand movie with the theme of "ugly girl with big nose gets (or gets and loses) the goodlooking guy"? FUNNY GIRL - same. THE WAY WE WERE -- ditto. YENTL -- double ditto. And I'm sure there are others.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 2:29pm

Pure drivel, a totally psycho ego trip. Try to find Libby Gelman Waxner's review of MIRROR, one of the monuments of 20th Century Film Criticism.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 2:37pm

I enjoyed Mirror alot and thought Bacall deserved that Oscar. I thought the film dealt with some important themes. I loved it-I have a soft spot for romantic fables/fluff.

[fflagg]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 4:23pm

You are not quite accurate.

Columbia Pictures was going to make MIRROR and HEART. They told Barbra "make this commerical comedy first and then we will give you the money to make HEART."

MIRROR was delayed due to a severe winter as well as BS's lack of faith in the script. Carrie Fisher ghosted some of it. Needless to say it was not a happy set.

When THE BIRDCAGE opened to huge b/o he publicly stated how pissed he was that BS was sitting on HEART. As a result she pulled out altogether and rights went back to him.

Although Kramer sort of shot himself in the foot by his public outrage he was right in that BS is famous for securing rights to projects and doing nothing afterwards. If she was so intent on filming HEART she should have shot the film either before or after TIDES since she supposedly had the rights that far back.

Now I think no one in Hollywood gives a sh*t about AIDS so HEART will never be made.

And for the rose-colored BS fans who will yell at me, the above comes from a friend who worked at Columbia during this time and who gave me a shooting script of MIRROR with BS's scribbles all over it.

Had HEART shot, she was most interested in Ralph Fiennes and Kenneth Branagh as the two leads. For sure, she would have won the Best Director Oscar. And deserved it.

Re MIRROR, the premise was plausible and would have worked if the script were less LIFETIME and more Albee. There are many middle-aged women who are stuck living with an elderly widowed Mom. The mother-daughter scenes I thought were quite good and could have been a little better to give the film more honesty. If BS were less 'aw shucks, aren't I endearing?' about her character the film would have reviewed and played better.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 4:30pm

I agree with Flippancy and Roscoe; total ego trip.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 4:31pm

Well, "Philadelphia" was made in Hollywood, the same about "And The Band Went On", and many others.

I thought this movie was ok, it was based on a French film, if Im not mistaken, it was a cute movie, but then again, nothing too memorable, I just didn't like why the fact she went blonde turned her into an "attractive" woman with confidence all of a sudden?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:13pm

Oh Roscoe, Libby's review was PRICELESS.

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:23pm

It was horrid! And she looked like a 50 year old version of Blossom with the stupid hats.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:19pm

Haha, you have a point there! LOL

[nealb1]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 11:53pm

I went to a test screening of "Mirror" in August of 1996 in Pasadena, CA. Barbra was there and I was lucky enough to have been selected for the panel discussion after the film. She sat in the back of the theatre and wrote down most of what we thought about the film.

I did say that Lauren Bacall will win The Oscar for her performance. Everyone else in the group agreed. One thing that I also commented on, was there was no resolution scene with the "new" Rose and her buddy Brenda Vacarro (sp?). There should have been a scene where Brenda sees her "new" friend all slim and trimmed down. Once the panel discussion was over with, my friend and I walked up the aisle to exit the theatre and an assistant came up to me and said, "If you have a moment, the director of the film would like to speak to you." I almost fell over!!!!

He guided me into the center of the row where she was sitting with her crew and thanked me for my comments. She told me that she did film a scene with the "new" Rose and Brenda but it was cut during the initial editing of the film. She said after hearing what I had to say, she would definately put it back in the film. She also thanked me for saying that Lauren Bacall will win The Oscar. The conversation lasted.....1 minute or so....but, it's clearly marked in my memory for the rest of my life. She was very, very nice and very, very real....she wasn't saying it just because she had to. She was saying it because she meant it. When I left, I extended my hand and we shook hands.

And, when the film was released, that scene was put back in the film.

FFLAGG...you're right, the East Coast had one of the worst winter storms ever recorded during January 1996 when "Mirror" was still filming. Virtually the entire East Coast shut down for a week, if I'm not mistaken. And, course, when "Mirror" was affected from the weather, so many naysayers at the time were blaming Barbra..."oh, it's going to go over budget," Blah, blah, blah.. "Mirror" went over budget between $7-$11 million. Much of that was weather related and the crew changes. Although, this is hardly a welcomed sight, it is not unusual to replace people once filming has started.

Shortly after filming began, Dudley Moore and the Director of Photography were replaced. DM was replaced for one reason and one reason only, his inability to do the job. He wasn't able to remember his lines and was "out of it" when he was on the set. Large que cards were prepared to feed DB the lines, but he was still having trouble. So, he was replaced.

The DP was let go and replaced with another cinematographer. The official word from Columbia was creative differences. The reality is that things don't always go perfectly in the creative process. Situations arise that must be dealt with or the entire production can be affected.
Updated On: 6/2/07 at 11:53 PM

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 4:14pm

neal, I agree that Lauren Bacall was good, but there's only so much someone can do with a terrible script.

Re: the Brenda Vaccaro storyline. THAT was one of the things that made me wince. The cliched, poor little sassy "fat friend" who can no longer relate to the newly svelte, lit-within-an-inch-of-her-life Babs. Although the movie was clarly a labor of love for Barbra, I personally thought the end result was awful. And the message? What did she want from her mother? To be seen as someone who deserves her respect? No...when it came down to it, the ONLY thing she cared about was her mother seeing her as pretty. How empowering.

It was probably a big F you to Mrs. Kind.

[nealb1]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:07pm

Oh, yeah, it's pretty clear that in all of Barbra's films, the mother character is very, very flawed......bad, bad relationships.

Look at "Up The Sandbox," "Prince of Tides," "Mirror," and "Nuts."

But, in "Yentl," the father is PERFECT.

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 12:51am

True. I adore Yentl, though! I can't help myself.

[rgaywrites]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 1:10pm

I loved this movie. It wasn't the best script every put to celluloid, but sometimes, there is joy in familiarity and the story of the ugly duckling never seems to get old.

[glimpseofstocking]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 1:25pm

I've always enjoyed the movie, it's a nice way to pass 2 hours. And Lauren Bacall is of course fabulous, but what isn't she fabulous in?

[Jon]

Posted: 6/3/07 at 1:36pm

I couldn't get past the fact that the Jeff Bridges character was such a clueless doofus.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 9:32am

I also really enjoyed Mimi Rogers playing Bab's shrew of a sister. It was a nice stretch for her. :)

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 2:41pm

Smartest thing Streisand did was surround herself with likeable competant actors who gave engaging and generous performaces.

Cause.. much as I admire Bads... she really came off as unfunny self-absorbed and pretty much unengaging.

My two-cents

[feinstein9]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 3:01pm

I thought it was pretty cliched, overall. The mother-daughter scenes were definitely the most real, the rest seemed a bit too heavy handed. Then again, I don't really like romantic comedies from the '90's. So much fluff. I also thought Jeff Bridges and the secondary characters were too two-dementional. As someone stated above, there is only so much you can do with a bad script. I thought Babs did a good job directing, although not as stunning as Tides and Yentl. I also don't think she did this "instead" of Normal Heart. From what I remember reading, thing kept getting tied up in a number of ways and it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. I know she really wanted to do the film, and I wish she had. I know her son was kind of pissed she didn't, and didn't like Mirror too much. Again that's just what I've read and I don't know as a fact. FFlag, thanks for sharing what your friend at Columbia had to say. And Neal- that is insane!! Meeting Babs and knowing that because of your own comments, a scene was put back in the movie? When you watch it are you like, "I put that there!" Because I would. And when her shook hands, did you notice if her nails? Okay, so I do see her through rose-coloured glasses. But I also know that not every film she makes is her best. Just look at For Pete's Sake and All Night Long!

[nealb1]

Posted: 6/4/07 at 3:11pm

Hey, Feinstein9...Yeah, it was pretty incredible to meet her, let alone, that she was there for the screening. You're right, when I do watch "Mirror," I do think to myself, "I'm responsible for putting that scene back in the movie." Ha, ha.... My paths with Barbra did cross a lot in 2000 and 2001.

I'm not one to look at Barbra, or anyone for that matter, through rose colored glasses. I just use, plain old common sense, I guess. Yes, I'm a huge, huge, huge fan. I just look at her as an extremely talented woman. It's been years since I've watched "All Night Long." "Star Is Born," I don't care for at all. Never did like it much.

It just irks me to know end when people bash her on this site when there's no merit to it. Sure, everyone's entitled to their opinion. But, to purposely "stir the pot," because someone has their own agenda....there's no excuse for that


Updated On: 6/4/07 at 03:11 PM