Honestly, what's with the mirror
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Motorskallen — 13 years ago(August 27, 2012 02:55 PM)
That's the best answer so far
Thank you.
And beep instead of come with bitchy remarks and refer to paintings that has nothing to do with this film whatsoever, please come with some serious comments instead. It makes it easier for me to take you serious.
Dream big. Live the life. -
saltnurwound — 13 years ago(November 25, 2012 06:46 PM)
Simest, that was deep. I came here looking because i was as dumfounded as anyone when it led nowhere. I thought it was just a scene thrown in to spook us(viewers), but it was so out of context with the rest of the movie.
I think you're absolutely correct in your interpretation. Great question by the OP too. As for poster #2, you should read more than type. You seem to think you're on some higher mental plane than others, which was quickly dispatched here. Good movie. This TV guide channel is having some marathon tonight, and "Misery" is up next. That dirty birdy!! -
cpoet — 12 years ago(March 21, 2014 08:31 PM)
I just posted elsewhere that I interpreted the mirror scene as a metaphor for Selena discovering that everything she thought she knew about her life was backward. Daddy dearest was a monster and she owes her mother, whom she's loathed/blamed/ignored, everything.
But I think I might now subscribe to your "can't face herself" theory. Either way, it's a terribly powerful scene. -
ToastedCheese — 3 years ago(May 29, 2022 11:14 PM)
It was explained in the dvd commentary. Hackford explains it was based on some painting. It was an insider reference, but it was alluding to being faceless and this is how Selena felt. I got this metaphor without knowing what the film-makers intention was when I first saw the film.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
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bingoboss — 14 years ago(October 22, 2011 04:29 AM)
Lots of interesting answers on this board.
My interpretation: the mirror scene depicts the split in Selena's psyche.
There are lots of flashbacks in the movie; in fact, I think Dolores Claiborne is pretty much a master class on how to use flashbacks to advance a story. But during the boat scene, Selena (in the present) actually walks into a flashback and watches her younger self it as if she were watching a play. She stands around like a ghost. Selena's not just remembering what happened, she's witnessing it as if for the first time, because as a young girl there was a split in her mind while her father was abusing her.
When the captain interrupts her unexpectedly, she runs to the bathroom to gather herself. Literally. Yes, it's a weird scene, but I don't know how else you would depict this on film. -
Zuider_Zee — 12 years ago(March 24, 2014 06:42 AM)
I see two things. The first thing is the large amount of pills Selena was taking. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if what she saw in the mirror was a hallucination. Secondly, I see her inability to face herself and after realizing that she has lied to herself for much of her life. She had turned her back on her mother and had put her father on a pedestal.
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spookyrat1 — 11 years ago(May 10, 2014 08:12 AM)
Secondly, I see her inability to face herself and after realizing that she has lied to herself for much of her life.
I agree. She hasn't been honest with herself nor her mother and the mirror simply doesn't lieliterally. The reflection turns her back on her, revealing her shame and sense of self-loathing. -
kr-write2 — 11 years ago(June 01, 2014 06:36 PM)
When I saw it I thought she was having some sort of dissociative state like some victims of incest do and it wasn't the first timeremember the "rough patch" after her Dad died? I liked how they made that moment linger so you would wonder if she is going to go off the deep end for good but then she snaps out of it and she appears normally in the mirror as she leaves the restroom. Great scene.
I think it could serve two purposes in the film. It is symbolic of how she was split on the topic of her father and how she turned her back on her mother. -
edonovan2 — 11 years ago(October 21, 2014 05:53 PM)
I remember watching a TV review of the movie that featured that part and the critic commented that it was the worst scene in the movie, which was otherwise very good. It was bad enough to keep that scene in the movie, let alone use it for preview purposes!
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RumourdProd — 11 years ago(November 15, 2014 05:15 PM)
Jesus Christ. Read more books, see more foreign films, view more art. If you can't figure out why this is such a powerful, potent image within the story's context, then you're probably a redneck. Or uneducated. Or you need every goddamn thing in a movie spelled out for you because you're too lazy to do it yourself.
Avoid watching "Inception"; your head might explode. Or turn its back on you. Heh.