The Broken Mirror / Unquiet Death – Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: France/Belgium, 1975 (The Broken Mirror), Tunisia/France/Belgium, 1970 (Unquiet Death)
Directors: Claude d'Anna (Both Films), Férid Boughedir (Unquiet Death)
Cast: Max von Sydow, Laure Dechasnel, Micheline Presle, François Arnal, Monique Fluzin, Claire Wauthion, Marie Verschueren, Féodor Atkine (The Broken Mirror), Aly Ben Ayed, Ursule Pauly, Sophie Vaillant, Sylvia Céline, Abdallah Chahed (Unquiet Death)

Release Date: August 8th, 2023
Approximate running times: 103 Minutes 58 Seconds (The Broken Mirror), 76 Minutes 39 Seconds (Unquiet Death)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Films)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono French (Both Films), DTS-HD Mono English (The Broken Mirror)
Subtitles: English (Both Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

The Broken Mirror: "Anne Lawrence lives in Brussels , where she works as a restorer of rare paintings. When Anne becomes pregnant, her widowed mother visits her, which brings back memories from Anne’s past. Her mother asks Anne about the time she went missing and was found, lost in the city, clutching a strange painting with no knowledge of where it came from. Anne is fascinated by the painting but also scared of it. She becomes determined to discover why it now seems so important to her.

Strange incidents start to occur. Anne is pursued through empty streets by a large car with a hidden driver. She sees a man with a gloved right hand watching her from the deserted house across the street. She becomes frightened by her own reflection in mirrors.  As Anne sinks ever deeper into the mystery of her past, she finds herself entering a nightmare of fear and sudden violence from which she seems unable to escape." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Unquiet Death: "Three sisters visit their uncle in his island home. He dies suddenly and they find themselves alone with their late uncle’s manservant." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (The Broken Mirror), 3.75/5 (Unquiet Death)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfers, "The Broken Mirror was digitally restored from the original negative. Unquiet Death was digitally restored from 35mm elements."

The Broken Mirror and Unquiet Death come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.6 GB

Feature: 19.6 GB (The Broken Mirror), 12.7 GB (Unquiet Death)

The source used for The Broken Mirror’s transfer looks excellent. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated and at times vivid, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are all solid, and the image always looks organic.

The source used for Unquiet Death’s transfer is in great shape; any source imperfections are minor. Colors and flesh tones look correct, the image generally looks crisp, black levels fare well, and compression is solid.

Audio: 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono French - The Broken Mirror, DTS-HD Mono English - The Broken Mirror), 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono French - Unquiet Death)

The Broken Mirror comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in French and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio tracks are in excellent shape. Dialog always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced, and range-wise, things sound robust when they should. Quality-wise, the differences between these two tracks are minimal. Included are removable English subtitles for the French-language track and a second removable English subtitle track when watching the English-language track for French text.

Unquiet Death comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds clear and balanced. Range-wise, things sound very good.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an interview with director Claude d’Anna titled The Secret Illusion for The Broken Mirror (31 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Laure Dechasnel for The Broken Mirror (19 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an interview with Claude d’Anna titled Produced by Gust Verren (5 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), a short film directed by Claude d’Anna titled Curtain Call (7 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an interview with director Férid Boughedir titled A Conversation with Férid Boughedir and Lucas Balbo for Unquiet Death (33 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), and an interview with Claude d’Anna titled Possessed by Cinema for Unquiet Death (30 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles).

Summary:

The Broken Mirror: The narrative revolves around an art restorer who becomes obsessed with a painting she worked on but cannot remember anything about it.

The Broken Mirror is a psychological melodrama that has Roman Polanski’s influence written all over it. Specifically, these three films Repulsion, a protagonist who is often alone, starts to see things that others in her life do not see. Rosemary’s Baby, the protagonist, is also recently pregnant, and her anxiety about becoming a mother plays a role in the story at hand. And the protaginist sees someone in a window in the house next door, which is reminiscent of The Tenant.

The deliberate-paced narrative quickly draws you into the story that unfolds. And though characters' motivations are left in the dark, This ambiguity perfectly suits the story at hand.

Though the bulk of the screen time is essentially one character by themselves. Every performance in The Broken Mirror is solid, especially Laure Dechasnel’s portrayal of Anne, the art restorer. She delivers a remarkable performance that does a superb job of capturing her character's state of mind. Even more impressive is that The Broken Mirror was her first film, and she would only appear in two other films. Another performance of note is Max von Sydow's (The Seventh Seal. Despite limited screen time, his characters' presence looms large.

From a production standpoint, there is not an area where The Broken Mirror does not excel. The premise is superbly executed, and a phenomenal ending brings everything that preceded it together. Is the man that the protagonist saw in a window real? Who is this man, and what secret is she about to uncover? Other strengths include solid set design, a minimal score, and ambient sounds that reinforce the forbidding mood, and every inch of The Broken Mirror is exquisitely photographed. Ultimately, The Broken Mirror is an extraordinary examination of perception.

Unquiet Death: The narrative revolves around three sisters who have been living on an island with their uncle, who recently died. Living with them is their uncle's servant, who helps them prepare to leave the island. From there, a series of events unfold that force them to remain on the island.

What starts off as a straightforward story about dysfunctional characters in search of an exit from the life they have been living quickly transforms into a story about classism that's heavy-handed when it comes to the social commentary.

Though the three spoiled sisters start off with power over the man servant, he quickly turns the table on them. The narrative is not much more than a series of moments in which characters degrade each other. The performances are best described as adequate; the cast are mere props and nothing more. That said, there is striking imagery throughout that is filled with symbolism. Ultimately, Unquiet Death is a high-brow art film that most viewers will find a chore to sit through.

The Broken Mirror gets an exceptional release from Mondo Macabro that comes with a solid audio/video presentation, a second feature film, and a wealth of informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer