The story, like "Frankenstein" and "Dracula," has taken on the significance of a modern folk tale, layered with obvious moralizing and as familiar as personal history.
While there is barely a story to tie it all together, The Mirror finds connections in the longings of Alexei. He longs to understand his past, his land, his family, his inspirations and fears, and that’s what the movie is able to convey in its abstract but persuasive way.
On the surface, a lace of flirtations, insinuations and rejections compose the basic plotting. But Renoir uses flashes of accelerating drama to amplify his bigger points.
More than 45 years after it was released, the movie made of Oscar Wilde's tale of the price of eternal youth is still well worth seeing. [05 Sep 1991, p.11]
It’s a pretty arduous journey, complete with personal revelations, melodramatic suspense, a grand finale and all the Hollywood hokum MGM could get away with.
Polanski over-thinks much of this film -- in the same ways that many of us may over-think the details at these moments. He reaches for a psychological instead of an active tone. But the movie still has a taut and creepy impact, like a bug crawling up your arm. [25 Oct 1991, p.F29]
It's the story of a rich girl (Linda Blair) who runs away to enter a disco roller-skating contest with a poor boy (Jim Bray). Along the way, they hook up with other skaters to keep the mob from taking over their favorite roller rink. It's as dumb as it sounds. [09 Dec 1993, p.F2]
