Sex Work, Shattering from all Perspectives.
DIRECTED BY MARLEEN GORRIS/DUTCH/1984
BLU-RAY STREET DATE: AUGUST 15, 2023/CULT EPICS
Synth music thumps ominously as a guy in a trench coat dumps a hastily wrapped corpse in a remote location at dusk. Once the corpse settles wherever it is, we see that it’s the body of a woman.
Meanwhile, another woman arrives home to her apartment. Repulsed by the biohazardous mess that it is, she gets even more repulsed having to pick up and throw away a used condom. It occurs to us… is this her apartment at all?
Elsewhere, a woman hears someone else on the phone going on about how their man doesn’t like using condoms. A few minutes later, a younger woman with a baby knocks on yet another woman’s door needing a hand with things. A circle seems to be forming here….
As the women buzz to get into the building and then congregate at the front desk to talk shop, it becomes obvious just what this building is for, what these women do. (The establishment is called “Club Happy House”, which it is anything but). The term “sex worker” didn’t really exist in 1984 when Dutch auteur Marleen Gorris’ Broken Mirrors (Gebroken spiegels) was released, but these women are definitely working. With sex. The woman handing off the baby, Diane (Lineke Rijxman), is new to the job. Johns slide into the lobby, the ladies line up, and the madame makes sure all is on the proper downlow. As the film’s two separate tracks refuse to obviously align, we ask ourselves, “is one of the regulars the killer?”
Later, during a thoroughly effective mid-movie stalking sequence, Gorris takes us across town in the dark via several modes of transportation. On the public train, her camera swings horizontally in a particularly unique and ominous way. One doesn’t even need the tellingly suspenseful music of the synth score to telegraph that this won’t end well for the woman being followed. It’s the killer again.
Amid that and the unsettling events which follow, a death by suicide shakes up life at the brothel. This is another effectively rattling sequence; gruesomely bloody and altogether shocking as different people react in very different ways. Gorris, always advocating for oppressed women, is uncompromising in her depictions in Broken Mirrors. In the name of artistry and authenticity, no drudgery is spared.
The mystery killer snaps Polaroids of his victims in various stages of torture and finally death. Again and again, we see his meticulous grid of the macabre images taped to his wall. The indifference with which he takes and displays this record of his work matches the surface approach of Gorris herself in telling this story. It all culminates with a disturbingly realized event that gives way to an unexpected yet obvious confrontation. A protagonist is faced with having to stand her ground even as she may have no ground to stand upon.
In ushering the resonant Broken Mirrors to Blu-ray (the second of the label’s three subsequent Gorris titles), Cult Epics has once again delivered a most impressive disc. The outstandingly muted image comes straight from a 4K transfer of the original 35mm negative, restored and mastered in 2K 1080p for Blu-ray. Two soundtracks are offered: the original LPCM 2.0 mono track and a new ew DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track. Both are solid options depending on one’s audio preferences. The sleeve artwork is reversible- another option presented to those who pick up Broken Mirrors.
The extra features on the disc are led by an informative audio commentary by film scholar Peter Verstraten. Verstraten, who’s published books on Dutch cinema, spends much time initially drawing apt comparisons and contrasts between Broken Mirrors and films such as Ken Russell’s Crimes of Passion (1984) and François Ozon’s Young & Beautiful (2013). Even Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) gets extended mention. These sidebars are fully in service of his consideration of Gorris and her work, particularly the themes and content found in Broken Mirrors.
Also included is an English language Dutch TV talk show interview with US escort / working girl Margo St. James, as conducted by Adriaan van Dis for Cinema 3 circa 1991. The cordial chat runs just over eight minutes, focusing on the late St. James’ crusade to see “whoring” (her preferred term) become legitimized via proper unionization. This is an excellent choice for a bonus feature for Broken Mirrors (the film does get a mention in the interview), as it manages to be brief, provocative, fully relevant, but also outside of the box. The disc’s bonus menu is rounded out with a promotional gallery.
Blunt in its telling and primarily incandescent in its dark aesthetic, Broken Mirrors reflects a dismal time for women in Holland. (Besides Rijxman, the film also stars Henriette Tol and Edda Barends) Mirrors crack as do the arbitrary victims of various violent outbursts. All of this while the dour business of fetishized female murders and mistresses of the night ultimately intersect for a sharp and shattering conclusion.