Tag: Olivia de Havilland
-
Noir mirrors: A broken world reflected in shattered glass
In the often disjointed world of film noir, a mirror is seldom just a mirror. Those silvery reflective surfaces can suggest a lot of things: paranoia, dual personalities and narcissism, to name just a few. They also distort reality. Facing mirrors may reflect the image of a figure into infinity, suggesting a splintered, dissociated personality.…
-
‘Ivy’ is pure evil under shimmering gaslight
Contains spoilers “Ivy” (1947) Even before the action begins we sense that something is rotten in Edwardian London. During the opening credits the orchestral music turns dark and a vase morphs into the faint image of a human skull. Clearly, this is going to be a horror show. Ivy Lexton (Joan Fontaine) seems pleasant enough,…