#corridor of mirrors

[sesiondemadrugada]

Corridor of Mirrors (Terence Young, 1948).

[uspiria]

Corridor of Mirrors (1948) dir. Terence Young

[theseventhveil1945]

Wandering around Paul’s mansion one day while he is out, Mifanwy enters a long hallway lined with mirrored doors; opening one, she confronts a white, eyeless dummy dressed in a sumptuous period gown. There is a mannequin behind each door, their faces vaguely suggesting mummified corpses; the allusion to Bluebeard’s wives is inescapable. But Mifanwy quickly recovers from her shock and wallows in the fabulous clothes and jewels, which Paul has collected in anticipation of finding the right woman to wear them. (The film’s opulent costumes, which appeal to the ten-year-old girl within every female viewer, were designed by Owen Hyde-Clark and constructed by Maggy Rouff.) Mifanwy happily succumbs to the joys of playing dress-up. This Galatea is motivated not by love but by vanity; she is intoxicated by herself, infatuated with her own image, more than with Paul. It is also clear that their romance is never consummated—and this is by his choice, not hers. They are, in a way, more like children sharing a private world of make-believe than like adult lovers. Corridor of Mirrors: The Eternal Return by Imogen Sara Smith

[pasdetrois]

Corridor of Mirrors (1948)

[seacavepuzzle]

Corridor of Mirrors (1948)

[cinenthusiast]

Corridor of Mirrors (1948, Young)

[movie--posters]

[cithaerons]

Corridor of Mirrors (1948), dir. Terence Young

[nitrateglow]

Thoughts on Corridor of Mirrors (1948)

If you combined Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast with Hitchcock’s Rebecca, the result might be this movie. Corridor of Mirrors has long been relatively obscure as far as noir goes. Almost everyone that sees it admits it is a gorgeous film, dripping with gothic atmosphere and an otherworldly romanticism. Whether the story is up to snuff is a bit more polarizing. I’ve seen the movie derided as pretentious, but I can’t agree. While the plot developments are handled a little awkwardly towards the end, there’s something seductive about this movie.

The plot follows a woman named Mifanwy who enters into a relationship with Paul, an artist obsessed with 15th century Venice. His house is elaborately decorated with old paintings and beautiful artifacts, serving as a refuge against the drab vulgarity of 1930s London. However, this is no ordinary relationship: Paul believes he and Mifanwy are reincarnations of a pair of doomed Venetian lovers. He sees their affair as a way of righting the wrongs of the past, while she starts to become wary of his hold over her as well as his obsession with events long over and done with.

I just really love the world this creates, that division between the mundane modern world and the baroque yet enchanting “past” world. I’m a big fan of what I call “1940s gothic,” that subgenre of thriller so popular during that decade. Think movies like Gaslight, Dragonwyck, Rebecca, or The Spiral Staircase. They can be quite creepy (and there are a few rather chilling moments in this one), but also weirdly cozy.

The movie is also rather Hitchcockian. There is a simmering unease from the very start of the movie and it grows more intense as the story progresses. I also enjoyed the depiction of the dynamic between Mifanwy and Paul. He clearly sees her as an aesthetic object more than as an actual woman, and Mifawny is initially charmed, perhaps even aroused by these attentions, willing to let herself be transformed into a doll of sorts. It reminded me a bit of the relationship between Scottie and Judy in Vertigo, only here, Mifawny eventually tries to break free, tiring of Paul’s control over her life. Naturally, the consequences get deadly.

Anyway, absolutely loved it. I’m glad this recently got a decent home video release.

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[uspiria]

Corridor of Mirrors (1948) dir. Terence Young

[theseventhveil1945]

Paul finally unveils for Mifanwy a fifteenth-century painting he discovered in Italy during World War I, depicting a woman named Venetia who is her spitting image. He goes on to recount his gradual realization that he was this woman’s lover in a previous life, and that in Mifanwy he has found her again. Appalled by this lunacy, she flees into marriage with a dependable, unromantic childhood friend whose idea of an endearment is to call her “imbecile woman.” Her choice is eminently sane—confirmed when Paul later tells her how in that earlier life he strangled the faithless Venetia with her own hair. But in her rejection of Paul, Mifanwy reveals a cruel streak; she seems to take pleasure in crushing and mocking his fevered dreams. That this heroine is spoiled and selfish, and often not very likable, gives the film a stimulating ambiguity: Mifanwy is at once a woman in peril and a femme fatale who destroys with her hard, derisive laughter. Corridor of Mirrors: The Eternal Return by Imogen Sara Smith

[neighbourhoodtwo]

survived a wetherspoons bathroom why are they designed like that

[starryimaginings]

[alteredsilicone]

Yonta's portrait is the only Zariman portrait I have - I must confess.

I am simply dedicated to wifeposting.