The Broken Mirror / Unquiet Death (Blu-ray)

THE BROKEN MIRROR (Trompe l’oeli)

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.

UNQUIET DEATH (La mort trouble)

Co-written and directed by Claude d’Anna and Férid Boughedir; France/Tunisia/Belgium1970; 76 minutes. 1.66:1; French audio/English subtitles; Starring: Aly Ben Ayed, Ursule Pauly, Sophie Vaillant, Sylvia Céline, Abdallah Chahed

The second feature on the disc, co-written and directed by Claude d’Anna and Férid Boughedir, is UNQUIET DEATH (La mort trouble). Three sisters visit their uncle in his island home. He dies suddenly and they find themselves alone with their late uncle’s manservant. Their relations reveal a dark side in all of them, and gender, racial, and class tensions lead to situations of humiliation, domination, sex, and death. A radical and challenging film, full of the revolutionary spirit of 1968.

Special Features:

Interview with co-writer/director Claude d’Anna.

Interview with co-writer/director Férid Boughedir.

Interview with actress/co-writer Laure Dechasnel.

Profile of editor and producer Gust Verren.

Rappels (Curtain Call), short film by Claude d’Anna.

French/English audio choice (BROKEN MIRROR).

Newly translated English subtitles.

Both features digitally restored.