The Mirror Has Two Faces (DVD, 1998, Subtitled French, Spanish, and Korean; Closed Caption)

In "The Mirror Has Two Faces" Barbra Streisand directs, produces, and stars in her third tri-part motion picture. This movie is based upon Andre Cayatte's (1958) French film LE MIROIR A DEUX FACES. Streisand (Rose Morgan) casts herself in the lead role. Professor Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) and Professor Rose Morgan are Columbia professors whose teaching styles couldn't be more different.

Morgan's is humanities, student interactive and centered, alive, vibrant, and uses everyday examples to stress her points. Larkin's is mathematics. Dull science where even his back is turned as he scrawls forumlas on the black board which bore the disengaged students to death. He can hardly get them to come to class without using threats.

Larkin puts an ad in the paper for a platonic cerebral relationship with a woman whose looks don't matter. Streisand plays herself way down from the start to look extra frumpy, for the frumpy professor part. Morgan's 'more attractive' sister, eager to pair her sister with someone who she might be compatible with, answers the ad instead, for Morgan. When Larkin shows up and goes to one of her dynamic classes he becomes enthralled with her. She's exactly what he's looking for because when he's engaged in a hot sexual romance with a drop dead gorgeous woman he cannot write he's so distracted by the relationship. Morgan's class was on relationships that are distinctly platonic . . . until Larkin leaves before she finishes the class which ends in a commentary about love and sex being the height of the product.

Morgan and Larkin date and agree to commit to a platonic marriage based on their intellectual common grounds, without sex. But Rose makes a near fatal mistake in the relationship: she falls in love with Larkin. She is shattered when Larkin won't make love to her after she's done her best to seduce him. So she returns home to her aging disgruntled mother (Lauren Bacall). Bacall has a key point in the story that only a mother could have impact enough to deliver. As always, the actor brings her point home brilliantly with brevity. Showing her daughter a kind of love she'd never felt from her before.

Brenda Vaccaro plays Streisand's best friend. Between Morgan's designing sister and Vaccaro they come up with a scheme that will alter both Larkin and Morgan's lives perhaps forever.

Bacall's, Bridge's, Streisand's and Vaccaro's performances are all stellar. It's a different stripe of love story.

PLOT: GREGORY LARKING (Jeff Bridges)a bit of a bore Math Professor~ is a total FAILURE with relationships and giveS UP on love~ But he is lonely and answers an add and meets Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand) a lonely professor OF romance literature~the fun part is SHE DID NOT PLACE THE ADD~

THIS IS A GREAT CHRISTMAS ROMANCE MOVIE~ TWO MATURE PROFESSORS AT COLUMBIA ARE LONELY~ BRIDGES IS A BIT OF A STUFFY BORING MATH professor and total failure at love answers an add for companionship~ he is NOT interested in sex and love having been burned too many times~ the ADD he responds too brings him to Rose Morgan a fun but "mature" romance professor who is carrying the torch for her brother in law ( Pierce Brosnan). little does Rose and Gregory know the ADD was place by her sister ...when the two meet they quickly find adult companionship and become "best friends"...WHAT I LIKED this is a romance of people over 35 and well educated~ ADD the scene stealer of Lauren Bacall (Rose's Mother) and we can related to her WE SEE A BIT OF OUR OWN MOTHER IN her manipulations....she is great~ the story is at Christmas time and we can enjoy the snow and budding relationship suddenly GREGORY ask Rose to Marry him~ not for love but a sexless union for "companship"~ will this work? oddly enough they get along great~ but when spring blossoms so does Rose's desire for the marriage to turn "REAL" a shocked and upset Gregory simply cannot handle another failed "sexual" relationship rebuffs her and she moves back in with her Mother and we see that Gregory CRASH and burn with out Rose it is most amusing~ TIME APART MAKES Gregory REALIZE HE "is" passionately in love with Rose..IS IT TOO LATE? SO he just has to Track her down to "tell her" ...but Rose has been "busy" loosing weight and building her own self image and "worth" and decides she NO longer needs Gregory~

GREAT CASTING IN THIS ONE Streisand pulls of the Rose transformation with HUMOR and fun~ Jeff Bridges is a very under rated actor but gives us plenty of laughs and we like this boring man transformed by LOVE. Pierce Brosnan is very good as the HUNKY brother in law with NO character ...and Lauren Bacall shines as the mother who has an opinion on just about everything. STREISAND DIRECTED THIS ONE TOO~ IT IS A ROMANTIC COMEDY but we enjoy the blend of lonely people falling in love~

I GIVE IT A SOLID 9 OUT OF 10 FOR ROMANCE AND COMEDY~


IF YOU FOUND THIS REVIEW HELPFUL PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE~

I like this movie alot although its central premise really challenges the concept of suspension of disbelief. The notion that someone as great looking as Jeff Bridges would want to have a platonic marriage in order to avoid relationship issues is just too ridiculous to believe. Otherwise, the characters are engaging and genuine and the cast is excellent. Besides Streisand and Bridges, Lauren Bacall is deliciously vain and suspicious as Streisand's mother, and Mimi Rogers, George Segal, and Pierce Brosnan shine in supporting roles.

The dynamics of relationships between men and women as portrayed in this movie will be painfully familiar to most, but there is plenty of humor to go with the angst. Anyone who has ever felt like an ugly duckling will cheer Streisand's character as she prevails in the end.

I had recently lost my copy of this movie. I think I began to have withdrawals. This is one of my all time favorite movies. Barbara is brilliant, witty and funny! Jeff bridges is awsomely gorgeous with perfect timing. Oh... and thank God Lauren Bacall added her grace as well as sarcasm playing Barbara's conceited "Diva" mom. My sides still hurt after seeing this movie over 100 times. You will not be disappointed if you need a good laugh as well as as good cry. ***** 5 stars!

I like that two people can fall in love with one another when in fact they never thought it would be likely to do so. I don't like how Rose's sister and mother always seem to put Rose down for some of the dumbest things. The reason I bought this movie is because I enjoyed watching it and also I enjoy almost everything that Barbra Streisand has been in. What I dislike about this movie is that Rose always seems to not think highly of herself.