MIRRORS IN MOVIES

Mirror mirror, on the wall…

1

DUCK SOUP

One of cinema’s most iconic mirror sequences doesn’t even have a mirror in it at all. Hiding within a non-existent looking glass, spy Pinky (Harpo Marx) masquerades as the reflection of dictator Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho). A masterclass in absurdity.

2

TAXI DRIVER

Robert De Niro’s signature moment was improvised on the day, as he locked himself in a room with Martin Scorsese and a full-length mirror. ‘It was like a jazz riff,’ the director recalled. The star spoke, and distilled Travis Bickle tumbled out.

3

IT: CHAPTER TWO

Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) terrorises an all-growed-up Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy) in a carnival mirror maze. The scene, invented for the film, allowed Bill to confront his feelings about brother Georgie’s death… by watching another young child die before his eyes.

4

ENTER THE DRAGON

After a sound beating from Bruce Lee, off-brand Bond baddie Han (Shih Kien) shrewdly flees to his own private hall of mirrors. This helps the clawed villain get some nasty licks in, but ultimately can’t keep Bruce at bay once he starts kicking.

5

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

Playing on the Queen’s insecurities, her Magic Mirror stirs the pot, pitting stepmother against young ward. To achieve the mirror’s booming voice, actor Moroni Olsen delivered his lines by encasing his head within a frame of old drum skins.

6

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

Trying to fend off the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) banishes her to a broken and jagged Mirror Dimension. Unfazed, Wanda continues to wreak havoc, glaring at her captors from a puddle of water.

7

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI

Over 100 plate-glass mirrors were used to build the distorted maze in which O’Hara (Orson Welles) finally confronts the duplicitous Elsa (Rita Hayworth). As the layers of Elsa’s deception come crashing down, so do the mirrors.

8

CANDYMAN

Doing for mirrors what Psycho did for showers, the Tony Todd-starring horror classic ensured that generations to come would never look at a mirror the same way - let alone say that name into it. You don’t have to tell us five times.

9

BLACK SWAN

Mirrors are all over Darren Aronofsky’s tale of ballerinas gone wild, each reflecting Nina Sayers’ (Natalie Portman) increasingly shattered psyche. The filmmaker’s cameras were hidden from shot using digital trickery and one-way mirrors. 10

10

INCEPTION

In her introduction to the world of the dreaming, Ariadne (Elliot Page) turns the streets of Paris into an infinite reflection. Drawing two gigantic mirrors together on the Bir-Hakeim bridge, the film achieves one of its most astounding visual effects.