Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2016)

Self-reflexivity in artistic works serves to remind the audience that they are viewing a cultural product. It prevents their becoming so involved in the text that they do not think critically about the message. The presence of the mirror during various scenes of The Devil's Advocate serves as a self-reflexive device to highlight the major themes of the film, namely duality, free will and truth. These important mirror scenes propel the plot action to Kevin's ultimate downfall and rebirth.
The mirror first appears during the Gettys trial when Kevin is faced with a crossroads. He faces his reflection, and negotiates with himself in the mirror. The duality of seeing both him and his reflection highlights a struggle between good and evil. While Kevin sells his soul (ethic and morals) and makes his pact to keep his record clean, he does not wear his wedding ring. This recalls previous texts in which marriage is an institution frowned upon by the Devil. The sinking sound of the toilet flush and thunder with the rip of the paper towel further emphasize this crossroads scene. His decision to defend Gettys despite his knowledge highlights his pride. He is unwilling to lose a case and mar his unblemished record. The mirror sequence underscores his decision which propels the action forward, whereby Milton takes notice of him and lures him to New York.
When Kevin meets Milton, the two are reflected in a man-made lake on the rooftop. The body of water often symbolizes the unconscious and deep, submerged truths. This scene foreshadows the final climax when Milton reveals that he is Kevin's father and that he values man-kind above all else. At this mirror/reflection scene Milton asks "you don't really want to go back to Florida, do you?" and Kevin decides he does not. This decision, emphasized by the mirror, propels the action again by allowing Mary Anne and Kevin to move to New York despite his mother's warnings. This is another crossroads, a time when he could have resisted his egotism.
For Mary Anne, the mirror does not emphasize a crossroads, but truth. Milton looks at her over her shoulder at Eddie Barzoon's party, and the two are reflected in the mirror. It shows Mary Anne's desire to have someone standing there next to her. She is very lonely, and this scene is intercut with the first instance of Kevin bailing on her. He puts his work before her, leaving her alone.
While in the dressing room with her new friends, one woman admits she had a boob job while another worries about her hips. The two women stand in front of mirrors admiring themselves, but Mary Anne sees the true self and not the reflection. These self-absorbed women, spending money and drinking, are monsters. She sees one morph into a hideous creature, while the mirror in front of her emphasizes the deception of appearances. It is Mary Anne who realizes first why she is being punished. She values the money and the apartment too much. She was taken in by the appearance, but the reality is far different. The mirror emphasizes the duality.
At the hospital, Mary Anne refuses to look in the mirror because she thinks she will see a monster. She accepted blood money through Kevin's acquittals since she knew all those people were guilty. This emphasizes the mirror's ability to reveal true identity that later manifests with Pam. Evil had followed Mary Anne into her room in disguise, but the reflection revealed her true form. Mary Anne crashes the mirror at exactly the climax of Kevin's mother's story. Kevin had been running away and not listening to her, but after the incident he allows his mother to reveal that Milton is his father. The two scenes intercut emphasize the mirror as a teller of truth and discovering one's true identity. It is significant that Mary Anne kills herself with the mirror, because the truth hurts.
Another mirror scene occurs while Kevin and Milton are at the boxing match. While on the phone with Mary Anne, Kevin spies a woman wearing a red dress in front of a mirror. As he's looking, he tells Mary Anne not to wait up, that he does not know when he will be home. This decision that he makes, in light of the fact that Milton is his boss and pays for their apartment and bills, is intercut with Mary Anne's dream that her ovaries are removed. Kevin's decision propels the action by leading to her first hysterical moment when he will take her to a doctor. The woman in red symbolizes evil, and she is alone. Perhaps it suggests the isolation of Mary Anne on the other side of the phone to whom he is speaking while looking at another. The woman reflects on the blood color of her dress that Maryanne will soon see. The reflection foreshadows the reality.
In the final mirror scene, Milton dies and returns Kevin to the Gettys trial, in front of the mirror where it began. Kevin squints looking at his face, searching himself. His decision to kill himself propels the plot further and brings him back to himself. The cyclical nature of identity is further emphasized when Kevin abandons the trial, but relents to an interview when Larry calls him a star. Milton repeats that vanity is his favorite sin.
These various mirror scenes emphasize key themes in the film. Because the mirror scene in the Gettys case frames the film, it is obvious that there are two paths to take. History will repeat itself in a different way the next time around, but there is no escape from the self. Kevin faces himself and makes a decision to support the case, and the second time to drop it. Mary Anne makes a decision to kill herself. Their decisions embody the philosophy of free will, and have very real consequences propelling the story forward.