Line #3 Film/TheMirrorHasTwoFaces


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_mirror_has_two_faces_poster.png]]
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3	''The Mirror Has Two Faces'' is a 1996 romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Music/BarbraStreisand, who also stars opposite Creator/JeffBridges and the legendary Creator/LaurenBacall. Creator/MimiRogers plays Rose's sister, Claire, and Creator/PierceBrosnan plays her brother-in-law, Alex, for whom Rose once had feelings.
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5	Columbia math professor Greg Larkin (Bridges) is tired of having his life ruined by sex, so he places an ad for an intelligent, like-minded individual to enter into a relationship not based on sexual attraction. Frumpy, but sweet and funny English Lit professor Rose Morgan (Streisand) is so insecure about her appearance that she cancels every date she has and spends every evening at home with her mother (Bacall).
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7	When Claire answers Greg’s ad on her behalf, he sits in on one of her classes where she coincidentally gives a talk on love and sex in the media, and how they are used to manipulate viewers. Thinking that she would be receptive to his ideas about sex and relationships, he asks her out on a date, and the two begin a whirlwind platonic friendship. However, Rose does want romance and passion in her life, and eventually begins to fall for Greg who, unbeknownst to either of them, is also falling for Rose.
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9	While not exactly a masterpiece of a romantic comedy, it's a fun little movie with a surprising amount of wit, and definitely a comfort film for geeky girls everywhere.
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12	!!”The Mirror Has Two Faces” contains examples of:
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14	* AloneAmongTheCouples: Played with. Rose is with Greg, but they are surrounded by more amorous couples.
15	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: At the end of the film, Greg just wants Rose to know that he loved her and he was attracted to her before her makeover, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy even though he thinks she’s with Alex now]]. He’s overjoyed to discover that this is not the case.
16	* AwfulWeddedLife: Alex and Claire, Alex adores her but she finds him annoying and even makes it clear.
17	* BeautifulAllAlong: The whole point of the movie.
18	* BettyAndVeronica: In the beginning of the film, Rose is the Betty and Claire is the Veronica for Alex, both end up rejecting him; Rose herself winds up playing both roles, starting off as the Betty then becoming the Veronica for Greg, who realizes that he’s in love with the “old Rose” (Betty)
19	* BigEater: Rose loves to eat. Greg loves the fact that she does. This is in marked contrast to her mother Hannah (who is prideful of how she doesn't eat very much and chides Rose for her eating habits) and sister Claire (who mostly consumes soup and a side of fruit for lunch).
20	* BrainlessBeauty: The type of woman that Henry Fine (Greg's friend) often ends up dating; he is however, aware that such relationships don't last.
21	--->''(consoling Greg about Rose)'' I don't date these girls because they're well-read. I gave one of them a copy of ''Farewell to Arms''. She thought it was a diet book.
22	* BrainyBrunette: Rose, a professor is brown haired until her makeover.
23	* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling the Old Lady Out]]: Rose to Hannah after she announces her engagement; Rose calls Hannah out for being controlling and for her attitude that her "less attractive" daughter has found a man that wants her. Hannah later relents that it's true she was jealous.
24	* CelibateHero: Greg has found that his previous relationships have [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted him]] from completing his book, so he decides it would be better to become this.
25	* ComplimentFishing: Rose’s mother, when Rose has Greg over for dinner
26	-->'''Hannah:''' You’ll have to forgive me, I came home late and just… threw this on! God knows how I look…
27	** But Greg simply nods and continues unfolding his napkin. He spends the whole evening very subtly shooting Hannah down while building Rose up.
28	* CoolTeacher: Rose is this to a lot of students due to her sense of humor.
29	* CourtlyLove: Rose brings this up in her lecture.
30	* DaddysGirl: Rose, her late father adored her and she was the first baby he ever held; they even looked alike and shared personality traits.
31	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: On their wedding night, Rose and Greg decide to watch a movie. Rose takes the cassette to the VCR, and Greg instructs her to “just stick it in”.
32	** Even better, watch how he's ''holding the remote control''!
33	* EveryoneLovesBlondes: A taxi rudely ditches Rose for a tarted up blonde and she dyes her hair blonde after her makeover and starts receiving more male attention.
34	* ExtremeDoormat: Rose, to Gregory's ideas, her Mother, and Claire; Alex and Roses's late father are this to their wives.
35	* FallingInLoveMontage: Rose sits in on one of Greg’s classes and stays back to give him a few pointers, which leads into one of these.
36	* FatBestFriend: Rose's friend Doris, unusually for this trope, she is less awkward with the opposite sex and much more self-assured.
37	* FeminineWomenCanCook: Rose is a good cook and sets the table beautifully.
38	* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Rose and Claire. Rose is sweet, intellectual, generous, kind, good-humored, humorous, and dowdy while Claire is glamorous yet self-centered, bitchy, miserable, shallow, and unfaithful.
39	* {{Golddigger}}: Claire, with a side of SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan.
40	---> If he weren't gorgeous, rich and straight, I wouldn't even have bothered.
41	* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Hannah wears this color in her first, onscreen appearance in a rich-colored designer knock off ensemble and coat.
42	* HasAType: Gregory's ex-girlfriend was a flame-haired Elle [=MacPherson=], he gets enticed by a redhaired actress for a phone sex line, and he has a student in his class who wants to lean into this trope with him.
43	* HeelRealization: Hannah has this when she thinks about Rose's low self-esteem and states that parents never plan to hurt their children.
44	* ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe: When Greg tells Rose that he met her through an ad, he worries that she’ll be upset, but she responds by saying “Why, you picked me”. Later, after breaking up with him, Rose says “I really do thank you, Greg. You’re the first man who wanted to marry me, for any reason”.
45	** Rose has felt that Alex didn't love her because she wasn't as babelike as Claire and when she gets together with him after her makeover, she figures he is very shallow and dim-witted, not good enough for her.
46	* IJustWantToBeBeautiful: Deconstructed. Rose spends the whole movie envying her mother and sister for being beautiful. After her makeover, she discovers that she doesn’t like being treated differently solely because of it. She also realizes that being “beautiful” actually takes a lot of time and effort and is ultimately more trouble than it’s worth.
47	* InformedAttractiveness: Rose after her makeover. Attractive, yes. But is it really necessary to have nearly every man she encounters drooling over her? To the point where she needs to chastise her 20-something years younger students to stop ogling her? (In fairness, at least ''some'' of this may be due to the sheer surprise of SheCleansUpNicely.)
48	** There was also her CoolTeacher rep to be considered, a lot of her students really liked her and there is a scene where pre-makeover Rose is seen with Greg and a male student mouths "You can do better!"
49	* InnocentInnuendo:
50	-->'''Rose:''' Come on, don’t stop.
51	-->'''Greg:''' What do you think, I’m a machine?
52	-->'''Rose:''' Come on, come on, you’re doing great, keep it up.
53	-->'''Greg:''' Ok, ready?
54	** Turns out Greg is doing situps while Rose is holding his legs and encouraging him.
55	* JewishAmericanPrincess: Claire and Hannah fit this trope to a tee, with their ItsAllAboutMe attitude, demands, materialism, and more that love seemed to be withheld in their marriages. On the other hand, Claire isn't sexually repressed and is carrying on an affair with her masseuse and talks about her lesbian fantasies, same goes for Hannah who is shocked that Rose would enter a SexlessMarriage. It goes without saying that Rose doesn't fit this stereotype.
56	* JewishMother: Hannah. She's very domineering of the [[VagueAge over-35]] Rose and criticizes her daughters' choices, like Claire getting married in the Catholic Church (albeit with a Rabbi close by the Priest).
57	* LadyInRed: Claire. She often wears this color a lot and is MsFanservice in-universe, she even flirts with Greg ''after'' he married her sister. When Alex sees post-makeover Rose, she is wearing a dark velvet dress of this shade.
58	** The catty, nasally voiced Blonde who receives a taxi pickup instead of Rose is seen in a skin-tight, red velour number.
59	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: During a romantic scene in a street, an operatic aria sung by a tenor is heard. Someone in an apartment above the street was playing a record of the music.
60	** Also, as a nice little EasterEgg, if you look at the record cover, you'll see it says Puccini. In her lecture, Rose discusses an article she read once that said "When we fall in love, we hear Puccini in our heads."
61	* LightFeminineDarkFeminine: Sweet and friendly Rose is the light to the bitchy and self-centered Claire's dark.
62	* LittleBlackDress: Black is a signature color for Rose, after her makeover she re-introduces herself in a sleek cocktail dress of this color that fits her body like a glove and later dumps Alex while in black shawls and slip.
63	* LoveHurts: Before they met each other, Rose experienced this with Alex and Greg with Candice
64	* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Invoked. Rose tells Greg that she wants “someone to go crazy, out of his mind for me.” Cue Greg, at the end of the film, in the wee hours of the morning, yelling up at Rose’s apartment from the streets, where Rose has a stop him from getting restrained by the doorman.
65	* TheMakeover: Takes a whole summer for Rose; she starts exercising, changing her diet from Snowballs to Carrot Sticks, changing her wardrobe, getting makeup tips, and bleaching her hair. This doesn't require removing the glasses she wears for her classes.
66	* MeaningfulEcho: After having sex with his ex-girlfriend at the beginning of the film, Greg asks if he can call her, and as she’s leaving, she says “What for?” When Rose breaks up with Greg after her makeover, the dialogue is repeated.
67	* NerdsAreSexy: A couple of Greg’s female students think he’s cute
68	* OldMaid: Rose.
69	* ParentsAsPeople: Hannah is a very witty woman with great style and beauty tips, but she often does put down Rose when she isn't bossing her daughters around. Hannah later tells Rose that "parents don't mean to hurt their children" and apologized for ever making her eldest daughter feel bad.
70	* PinkMeansFeminine: Rose, while clad in black a lot and not loving the pink bridesmaid dress she wears, loves to decorate her room and wear her nightwear in this color; ties into her sweet and romance loving personality. Claire wears a pink suit to Rose's wedding, more illustrating her physical assets, and even picks pink as her bridesmaid color.
71	* PlatonicLifePartners: This is what Greg originally wants in his relationship with Rose.
72	* RageAgainstTheReflection: After she failed to get Greg to have sex with her and while he's cluelessly stating he forgives her for breaking their agreement, Rose is sobbing in the bathroom and when she sees the mirror, rather than smashing it, she covers it with towel she's sobbing with and continues sobbing.
73	* SerialSpouse: Rose's sister, Claire, she has three husbands now.
74	* SettleForSibling: Of a sort. Rose once dated Alex, he then left her for Claire, then when Claire and he split, he goes back to Rose after her makeover. She wises up and figures that he is ridiculously shallow.
75	* SexlessMarriage: Rose & Greg, initially.
76	* ShoutOut: To ''Film/NowVoyager'', another film about a middle-aged single woman with a domineering mother who achieves both romance and a trans-formative makeover.
77	* SweetAndSourGrapes
78	* ThatCameOutWrong: On their wedding night,
79	-->'''Greg:''' So, what would you like to do?
80	-->'''Rose:''' Go to bed. (realizes what she just said) To sleep, I mean… in order to sleep. You go to the bed… for sleeping.
81	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich: When Claire and Rose lunch at the Bloomingdales cafeteria, Claire makes both of them have bowls of soup and fruit on the side for dessert; they barely touch their meals when [[AwfulWeddedLife Claire sees her husband Alex approaching, she then leaves the table]] and Rose (who has a crush on him and went out with him before he left her for Claire) leaves after he cluelessly asks her about Claire. Cue a confused Alex with two bowls of soup and fruit.
82	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Rose often keeps a stash of snowballs in one of her drawers. She also eats salad just because she likes the dressing and loads her fork to create the “perfect bite”. After her makeover, she eats plain, raw carrots, which Greg finds tragic.
83	* TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside: Greg fell in love with Rose because of the common interests they shared, and admitted to his friend Harry that although she wasn’t conventionally attractive, he found her quite beautiful
84	* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: It’s only after Rose tells Greg that she doesn’t want a passionless marriage and breaks up with him that Greg realizes that he was in love with her all along.
85	* UnresolvedSexualTension: Particularly in a scene where Greg pulls a muscle in his lower back while exercising and Rose is massaging the affected area, there’s a moment where it looks like the two are about to kiss, then Greg abruptly decides he needs to floss.
86	* WhiteSheep: Rose is this compared with her vain and competitive mother and sister.
87	* WishFulfillment: Oh sweet Jesus yes. Quite good at it, too.
88	* WritersCannotDoMath: Averted. Also averted in-movie, in that Rose, an English professor, grasps the concept of twin primes quite easily. Also averted with Greg – a Math professor ''and'' a writer.
89	** Although his book ''is'' about Math.
90	* YourTelevisionHatesYou: Greg, after getting dumped by his beautiful but shallow and bitchy ex-girlfriend, views a nature documentary about sexual relations between praying mantises, an ad for Obsession perfume, and a phone sex ad.

Context Film / TheMirrorHasTwoFaces