Broken Mirrors — Broken Mirrors( Blu Ray)

Broken Mirrors (Gebroken Spiegels) is an early 1980’s Dutch film- which attempts to bring together brothel-set drama with the low-key serial killer thriller. It’s a decidedly lopsided affair with it largely focusing on the drama side of things- and you do start to wonder how the two elements will connect. It’s certainly a well-acted film, with the mainly female cast really selling their roles- highlighting both the comradery and the grim frankness of the sex trade- without ever getting too flesh/ exploitative…though the serial killer elements are a little more mixed/ less satisfying. Here from Cult Epics is a new region-free release of the film- taking in a nicely crisp scan, a commentary track, and a few other extras.

Released in the year 1984 Broken Mirrors- filmed in and around Amsterdam, with some effectively moody snow-bound shots. It was the second film from Roermond, Limburg, Netherlands-born Marleen Gorris. To date, she has eight full-length films to her name. These go from her debut film- A Question Of Silence (1982) a thought-provoking and at times provocative drama-come-crime mystery (which not long back got reissued on Cult Epics). Onto comedy drama Antonia's Line (1995), and biography drama Within The Whirlwind (2009) which focuses on a female literature professor- who was sent for ten years of hard labour in a gulag in Siberia during the time of Starlin’s reign.

The film opens with a nicely uneasy tone- as we see blocks of small fount blood red texts set against a stark black background, with what sounds like sparsely jarring electronic played blues tones over the top. As the credits finish we see a man wearing driving gloves in red car going through a grey snow-falling landscape- he stops near a towering electricity pylon- carrying a wrapped body from his boot. He unwarps it, and takes a polaroid of the dead body.

We next shift to an upstairs Amsterdam brothel- it’s early morning, and the cleaning lady is tidying up from the day before- with overflowing ashtrays, dirty sheets, used condoms, and bedroom sinks filled with vomit. You can almost smell the place….and it’s not pleasant.

As the film unfolds, we spend say 70% in the brothel- meeting the women who work there- the place's middle-aged madam, and the suited/money-focused male owner of the place- who is looking at change the brothel into a more S&M-focused venue- as it makes more money.

Then the remaining 30% of the film focuses on our faceless serial killer- who kidnaps a mother of two children off the street. Chains her up to a bed in a stark grey room, and proceeds to take Polaroids of the woman- placing them alongside the other lines of photos on the wall of other women he has kidnapped/ killed. For most of the films runtime the two strands of storylines seem completely unconnected- yes in the serial killer elements- we do get a few uneasy stalking scenes, moments of grimness, and a hopeless vitriolic speech- but largely this element of the film lacks the uneasy impact & tension encounters with a serial killer should have.

There is no doubt that all the actresses in the brothel are very believable- this is enhanced by the almost fly-on-the-wall vibe of the scenes set in this place. Each woman's character is well defined/ realized- and you get a real feeling of love & comradery between the group. For the most part the male actors- including the ‘serial killer’ are barely drawn. I can of course see the reason for this is in the film's themes- I just wish there was just one man who was pleasant enough and had a little/ any depth to him. I guess we have the old man who lives in a shed near one of the main characters in the film- though he’s given rather apocalyptic prose to spout, and we don’t ever see him fully on screen.

I can certainly admire what Gorris is trying to do with Broken Mirrors- and when the two storylines do join, we get some quite tense & thought-provoking scenes. The brothel set moments are largely very good- with you really getting to know the characters well, and following their trials & tribulations. It’s just the serial killer element which doesn’t fully work/ jell- though in the end it’s key to films powerful if rather grim resolve.

 

Moving onto this recent Blu-Ray release, and the 4k scan looks excellent- really enhancing the moodier & atmospheric elements in the film.  Moving onto the extras side, and first off, we get a new commentary track from film scholar Peter Verstraten. He begins by talking about the films 4K scan, and how it majorly improves on the VHS print he’d previously seen. He talks about how the scan took five days to do, and what elements the restoration improved on. He talks about how the film is about routines and expectations, and give bios on actors as they appear. He chats about Lodewijk de Boer the films composer & his other notable works. 
He discusses how the clients are often shown in shadow, and the way most of the men in the film are shown in a bad light.  Later on, He discusses the film's characters and day-to-day life in the brothel. He points out a few scenes where circling camera shots are used, and more. The tracks is largely interesting enough, though Verstraten does go off on tangents quite often about other seemingly unrelated films which is a little frustrating. Otherwise, we get an Interview with US sex worker Margo St. James( 8.17) this is from a Dutch TV show- it’s in English, and gives an interesting outlook on prostitution in the US, and to a lesser extent Holland. There’s an image gallery, and cult epics trailer reel.

After seeing and being very impressed/ taken by Gorris first film A Question Of Silence. I was most looking forward to seeing Broken Mirrors, and on the whole, I’ll say I was somewhat tied about it- on one hand, the brothel scenes are most worthy, and you get a real feel of how the place runs/ the workers & clients react. But on the other hand, the serial killer elements lack real impact/ shock, and this whole element seems awkward/ badly conceived. So as a result, I’m not sure I can wholly recommend the film- but it’s certainly nice to see the film getting this new release on Cult Epics.