The Mirror Has Two Faces is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Barbra Streisand, who also stars. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is loosely based on the 1958 French film Le Miroir à deux faces written by André Cayatte and Gérard Oury. Also starring are Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, George Segal, Mimi Rogers, Brenda Vaccaro, and Lauren Bacall. The story focuses on a shy, middle-aged professor who enters into a platonic relationship with an unlucky colleague. The film was released on November 15, 1996 and grossed $82 million worldwide. Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert John Mutt Lange, and Bryan Adams composed the film s theme song, I Finally Found Someone . Streisand sang it on the soundtrack with Adams.

Plot

Rose Morgan, a middle-aged English literature professor at Columbia University, lives with her vain, overbearing mother, Hannah. While attending her sister Claire s third wedding (to Rose s former boyfriend Alex), Rose tells her best friend, Doris that she has reached the point where she knows she will never get married. But she also thinks how wonderful it might feel to have a partner who really knows her.

Gregory Larkin is a Columbia mathematics professor who cannot connect with students and loses perspective as soon as he is aroused by an attractive woman. A few moments after Gregory begins a talk about his new book, his ex-girlfriend Candace arrives. She flusters him so much that he has a panic attack and is unable to continue. While recovering, Gregory begs his best friend, Henry, not to let him go home with Candace, but he leaves with her the moment she offers. Back at Gregory s place, Candace leaves immediately after having sex. She is still with her new boyfriend, but wanted to bolster her ego because he was cheating on her.

Left in a state of frustration and rejection, Gregory decides to place a personal ad that reads, Columbia University professor (male) seeks woman interested in common goals and companionship. Must have Ph.D. and be over thirty-five. Physical appearance not important!

Claire secretly responds to the ad for Rose, and that night Gregory asks Rose out to dinner. They begin a relationship akin to dating, but without any physical intimacy beyond an occasional hug. Three months later, Gregory proposes. He emphasizes that their relationship will be built on common interest and caring, not sex, though he does agree to occasional sex, provided Rose gives him enough warning. Gregory and Rose marry in a courthouse ceremony. The relationship continues to grow and become more emotionally intimate, with hints of physical attraction.

While discussing his book tour at breakfast, Rose asks if now is enough warning to tell him she would like to have sex tonight. She tries to make the scene seductive, while he tries to keep it benign. They end up passionately on the floor, until Gregory resists and pulls away. He expresses disappointment in her, calling her behavior female manipulation , without admitting he only stopped because he was being swept away. Hours later, while Gregory is asleep, a devastated Rose sneaks out and goes back to her mother s.

During her stay with her mother, she is handed a photograph of herself as a little girl. Her mother describes how pretty she was back then, and that her father had never held a baby, until she came along. He never let her go, Hannah told Rose. This greatly changes Rose s view about herself: I was pretty? After this, Rose decides to undergo a makeover (changes her diet, exercises, does her hair, starts wearing curve-favoring clothing and makeup). Meanwhile, missing his wife, Gregory cuts his European book tour short and comes home to Rose. However, when he tells Rose he doesn t like the changes, she tells him that she cannot continue being married, moving back in with her mother.

When Alex finds Claire in bed with her masseur, they separate. Rose comforts him, but she realizes the fantasy of Alex is a lot better than the reality. Gregory starts lashing out at students, distraught about his failing marriage. He ends up on Henry s couch, an emotional and physical wreck, insisting he loves Rose and does not know what to do. Henry encourages him to fight for her.

Before sunrise, Gregory goes to Rose s apartment. He tells Rose he loves her and he so desperately wanted her that night, it caused him to pull away. They mutually confess their love and, when Gregory says he wants to marry her, she reminds him that they are still married. The sun comes up, and they catch a taxi home.

Cast

• Barbra Streisand as Rose Morgan-Larkin
• Jeff Bridges as Gregory Larkin
• Lauren Bacall as Hannah Morgan
• George Segal as Henry Fine
• Mimi Rogers as Claire Morgan
• Pierce Brosnan as Alex
• Brenda Vaccaro as Doris
• Austin Pendleton as Barry
• Elle Macpherson as Candace
• Taina Elg as Professor
• Adam LeFevre as Doorman
• Andrew Parks as Waiter
• Leslie Stefanson as Sara Myers
• Milla Jovovich as Girl in Commercial (uncredited)

Release

The film grossed $41 million in the US and Canada.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 55% of 33 surveyed critics the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.4/10.

In her review in the New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film s first hour light and amusing but added, then impresses her audience with good will hubris that goes through the roof. Beguiling as she can be in ugly duckling roles, she becomes insufferable as this story s gloating swan . . . The overkill of The Mirror Has Two Faces is partly offset by Ms. Streisand s genuine diva appeal. The camera does love her, even with a gun to its head. And she s able to wring sympathy and humor from the first half of this role. The film also has a big asset in Ms. Bacall . . her lines with trademark tart panache . . . and cuts an elegant and sardonic figure .

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film approaches the subject of marriage warily and with wit, like a George Bernard Shaw play . . . it s rare to find a film that deals intelligently with issues of sex and love, instead of just assuming that everyone on the screen and in the audience shares the same popular culture assumptions. It s rare, too, to find such verbal characters in a movie, and listening to them talk is one of the pleasures of The Mirror Has Two Faces . . . this is a moving and challenging movie .

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthmann described the film as a silly affirmation fantasy . . . that Streisand . . . uses to prove she s really beautiful, funny and worthy of being loved, gosh darn it . . . hasn t she returned to the theme of Homely Girl Redeemed, and crowned herself the victor, countless times? Look back and you ll see that Streisand s career, from the beginning, was one long battle cry for geeks and wallflowers and Jewish girls with big noses – a series of wish-fulfillment scenarios in which she, the perennial underdog, triumphs by dint of talent, chutzpah and a really great personality . . . in its first half The Mirror is a romantic-comic delight: nicely directed . . . well-acted by a terrific cast and peppered with great one-liners . . . by the second half . . . the movie has disintegrated into a humorless, drawn-out plea for reassurance .

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it a vanity production of the first order. A staggeringly obsessive expression of the importance of appearances, good looks and being adored, Barbra Streisand s third directorial outing is also, incidentally, a very old-fashioned wish-fulfillment romantic comedy that has been directed and performed in the broadest possible manner . . . From the beginning, it is clear that Streisand intends to hit every point squarely on the head and maybe bang it a few extra times for good measure. Every gag, every line and every emotional cue is pitched to the top balcony so no one will miss a thing, and there are quite a few moments of self-examination and discovery where one nearly expects the star to break into song to underline what she is really feeling . . . the subject of the director s uninterrupted gaze. Lit and posed in an old-time movie star way you rarely see anymore, she plays out her career-long is-she-or-isn t-she-beautiful comic psychodrama one more time, with the girlish uncertainties wiped out with the speed of a costume change. If one were to take it all seriously, one would have to point out that there just isn t that much difference in Rose Before and After, that Streisand hasn t allowed herself to look unappealing enough to justify the big change. No matter. The narcissism on display is astonishing to behold, and veteran Barbra worshipers will have a field day. Beyond that, pic does deliver a number of laughs, deep-dish luxury on the production side and an engagingly enthusiastic performance from Bridges .

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly rated the film C- and added, We know these two people are lonely and afraid of love and deserve our empathy. But they enact their tightly choreographed pas de deux in such a hermetically sealed universe that our emotions can never be engaged. Instead, we are left to muse, Oy vey, does Streisand know how over-the-top she is? That s not to say that Mirror is difficult to sit through. The synthetic one-liners that pass for humor and sentiment . . . are struck regularly, like gongs . . . The settings are pretty. The music is slick .

In the Washington Post, Rita Kempley called the film Barbra Streisand s latest folly and added, Although meant to be a bubbly romantic comedy, the movie is actually a very public tragedy for Streisand, who still can t quite believe that she s not Michelle Pfeiffer . . . at 54, it s time to get over girlish hang-ups, forget the noble schnoz and thank God that unlike Cher, you re still recognizable .

In the newspaper s Weekend section, Desson Howe opined, For Streisand fans, this ugly-duckling parable . . . is going to be the perfect experience. But for those who make crucifix signs with their fingers when her name is mentioned, this is definitely one to miss . . . the running time is hardly helped by a plethora of strategically framed shots of Rose s legs, new hairstyle, luscious lips and misty-blue eyes, after she has undergone a physical makeover. There is comic relief, however, from Lauren Bacall as Hannah, Rose’s egocentric, materialistic mother. Her withering lines . . . counteract some of the ubiquitous narcissism .

Lauren Bacall s performance earned praise, winning her the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, the first in her then-50-plus year career.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Subject	Result
20/20 Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Lauren Bacall	Nominated
Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	Best Original Song	I Finally Found Someone Music and Lyrics by Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams and Robert John Mutt Lange	Nominated
American Comedy Awards	Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Lauren Bacall	Nominated
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards	Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures	I Finally Found Someone Music and Lyrics by Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams and Robert John Mutt Lange	Won
British Academy Film Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Lauren Bacall	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Barbra Streisand	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Lauren Bacall	Won
	Best Original Score – Motion Picture	Marvin Hamlisch	Nominated
	Best Original Song – Motion Picture	I Finally Found Someone Music and Lyrics by Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams and Robert John Mutt Lange	Nominated
Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Lauren Bacall	Nominated
	Best Original Song	I Finally Found Someone Music and Lyrics by Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams and Robert John Mutt Lange	Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Lauren Bacall	Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role		Won
Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy		Nominated

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2004: AFI s 100 Years…100 Songs: I Finally Found Someone – Nominated
• I Finally Found Someone – Nominated

Soundtrack

Original music for the film was composed by Marvin Hamlisch. It received a nomination for Best Original Score at the 54th Golden Globe Awards. On November 12, 1996, Sony released the soundtrack on CD.

Tracks include Try a Little Tenderness by David Sanborn, The Power Inside of Me by Richard Marx, I Finally Found Someone by Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams, All of My Life by Barbra Streisand and The Apology / Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. In the final scene, Pavarotti s voice was mimed by real-life tenor and actor Carlo Scibelli.

The CD single for I Finally Found Someone also contains the Spanish-language version of Streisand s Evergreen : Siempre Verde (Tema de Amor de Nace Una Estrella) .

Year	1996
ReleaseDate	1996-11-15
RuntimeMins	126
RuntimeStr	2h 6min
Plot	A shy, middle-aged professor enters into a romantic but non-physical relationship with an unlucky-in-love colleague.
Awards	Nominated for 2 Oscars, 4 wins & 11 nominations total
Directors	Barbra Streisand
Writers	André Cayatte, Gérard Oury, Richard LaGravenese
Stars	Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Lauren Bacall
Produced by	Cis Corman,Arnon Milchan,Ronald L. Schwary,Ari Sloane,Barbra Streisand
Music by	Marvin Hamlisch
Cinematography by	Andrzej Bartkowiak,Dante Spinotti
Film Editing by	Jeff Werner
Casting By	Bonnie Finnegan,Todd Thaler
Production Design by	Tom H. John
Art Direction by	Teresa Carriker-Thayer
Set Decoration by	Alan Hicks
Costume Design by	Theoni V. Aldredge
Makeup Department	Lynn Campbell,Susan Germaine,Edouard F. Henriques,Craig Lyman,Randy Houston Mercer,John Quaglia,Lyndell Quiyou,Lynn Rodgers,Khanh Trance,Mary Cooke,Scott Hersh
Production Management	Sue Jett,Tony Mark,Ray Quinlan
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Kristin Bernstein,Patrick Mangan,Amy Sayres,Christopher Swartout
Art Department	Joseph Alfieri,JoAnn Atwood,Dennis Causey,Gary Cergol,John Davis,Chris DeTitta,Christine Donohue-Pace,Marion Kolsby,Michael Saccio,Thomas Saccio,Leslie Saulter-Yacuk,Robert Thayer,Pamela Turk,Richard A. Ventre,Travis Wright,Brick Mason,Christopher Nelson,Paul Robotti
Sound Department	David W. Alstadter,John H. Arrufat,Charles L. Campbell,Harry Cheney,Gail Clark Burch,John M. Colwell,Marko A. Costanzo,Robert Crozier,Zack Davis,Rickley W. Dumm,Jerry Edemann,Keith Edemann,Louis L. Edemann,Ronald Eng,Richard C. Franklin,Julia Gardner-Patsos,Leonard T. Geschke,Laura Graham,Spike Allison Hooper,Kathleen King,Andy Kopetzky,Mark Larry,Lawrence Loewinger,Chuck Neely,Tom Nelson,Kevin O Connell,Charleen Richards,Daniel Rosenblum,Greg P. Russell,Philip J. Slattery,Alicia Stevenson,Steven Ticknor,Paul Michael,Lisa Varetakis
Stunts	Vince Deadrick Jr.,Peter McKernan,Loyd Catlett
Camera and Electrical Department	Steve Adcock,Deborah Brozina,Patrick Capone,Joe Collins,Meredith Collins,Craig DiBona,Jay Fortune,Brad Goss,Dylan Goss,Timothy Healy,Petr Hlinomaz,David James,Gary Jay,Nils Johnson,Gregory Lundsgaard,William MacGhee,James Malone,Duane Charles Manwiller,Jason A. Micallef,Billy Miller,Matt Miller,Dick Mingalone,Mike Montgomery,Richard Quinlan,Scott Rathner,Katherine Ruppe,Kurt E. Soderling,William Ward,William M. Weberg
Casting Department	Judie Fixler,Gayle Keller,Burton Sharp
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Tommy Boyer,Kevin Brainerd,Pam Cane,Virginia D. Patton
Editorial Department	Pietro Cecchini,Nicolas De Toth,Richard Friedlander,Sandra Grubb,Alan Heim,Mo Henry,Dale Jones,Bob Kaiser,David Kirchner,Marilyn Madderom,Javier Reyna,Eric Rigney,Michael J. Wechsler
Location Management	Declan Baldwin,Alexander Berberich,Shannon Causey,Lys Hopper,Gene Patterson,Adam G. Williams,Eric Klein
Music Department	Brad Dechter,Sandy DeCrescent,Thomas S. Drescher,Daniel Gold,Marvin Hamlisch,Jack Hayes,Tanya Noel Hill,Jim Hoffman,Charles Martin Inouye,Jay Landers,Barbra Streisand,Torrie Zito,Tom Boyd,Tom Brown,George Doering,Corrin Huddleston,Andy Malloy,Tommy Morgan,Steven L. Smith,James Thatcher
Script and Continuity Department	Mary Bailey,Karen Kelsall
Transportation Department	John Leonidas,Dennis Radesky
Additional Crew	Tamara Bally,Stanley Brossette,Cara Buonincontri,Renata Buser,Matthew Cavaliero,Sara Corrigan,Larry Donahue,Gina Edmond-Feldman,Eric Fisher,Andrew Foderingham,Sean Garrett Fogel,Terry Ham,Courtney Henley-Anderson,Jon Hyman,Kris Isacsson,Girish Johar,Lori Johnson,Willis Baxter Johnson,Jodi Kaplan,Eric Morris,Roger Poirier,Benjamin Prager,Judy Pursley,Vernon Rodriquez,Peter Schön,Jon Shaw,Kim Skalecki,Ken Sunshine,Sharon B. Taksel,Jennifer Truelove,Irapaul Turner,Luca Ward,Stan Wiencko,Eric Yellin,Ray Zimmerman,Abby Bailey,Ian Fischer,Carrie Fisher,Corey Gibson,Cybille MacDonald
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Companies	TriStar Pictures, Phoenix Pictures, Barwood Films
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	6.6
ImDbRatingVotes	20230
Keywords	professor,remake of french film,directed by star,dating,lecture