Through the Looking Glass

The so called Golden Age of porn is loaded with badly written, badly acted duds that do not live up to the maker's artistic pretensions. This one film is a notable exception. A brilliant, spooky ghost story that deals with extreme emotional/sexual repression, the film should never have been shot as a hardcore. The sex scenes take up about 30% of screen time, and, for once, actually get in the way of a great story. Some of the acting is a bit spotty. The film is cast with both porn and mainstream actors, and a number of the porn stars just can't act. Also, the film's climactic Hell sequence is much too graphic(did we really need to see a woman bathing in urine and feces? I think not) But overall, "Through the Looking Glass" is a damn good movie. The Looking Glass scenes are creepy! Whatever happened to director Jonas Middleton? Shoulda been a contender!!!

In the freewheeling 70s, pornography very nearly went mainstream after DEEP THROAT and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES played to packed houses across the country and a number of "porno chic" films made around this time had decent budgets, actual plot lines, and attractive stars. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS is a classic grind house-cum-art house example from this era but it also stands alone as one of the eeriest sex films ever made. Beautiful "Vogue" model Catharine Burgess (once described as "a $2.98 Catherine Deneuve") stars as Catherine, a detached beauty with an accommodating architect husband, a young daughter, a father fixation and a dark secret. Catherine gets no sexual satisfaction from her husband because she spends most of her time in the attic, pleasuring herself before an antique mirror she's had since childhood and there's a demon in the reflection that shows the lady a world of unbridled lust on the other side of the glass. In a nod to ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Catherine sees a Mad Hatter's party that degenerates into an orgy with herself as centerpiece and the masturbatory and incestuous fantasies in the mirror are reflected in her husband and the household staff. Catherine has lived in the isolated mansion all her life and rarely leaves it but when her husband plans a trip to Paris for them, the insatiable satyr offers her an eternity of ecstasy at a terrible price...

The film has a strange, dream-like quality where sex & horror blend as if in a nightmare and Catharine Burgess' air of detachment only adds to the aura. The sex scenes, integral to the story, are few and far between so it's hard to see the "trenchcoat crowd" enjoying this one even though there's a memorable sequence where the viewer gets to go deep inside the heroine. Academy Award-winner Aron Obler & Harry Manfredini (FRIDAY THE 13th) contribute an evocative, moody score and the surreal, Fellini-esque ending segues into a denouement that is truly disturbing and not easily forgotten. Recommended, but not for the squeamish. Produced and directed by Jonas Middleton and released in hard and soft-core versions.

"A landmark movie" -Bruce Williamson, PLAYBOY

"Through the Looking Glass" tells the story of a very rich lady named Catherine who has it all:a beautiful villa,a nice husband,a cute little daughter,but sexually she is unfulfilled.As she spends another evening naked in front of her mirror,she discovers its a gateway to another dimension. In this new world she gets to live all her sexual desires but ends up in a kind of hell she can't get back out of."Through the Looking Glass" is a classic piece of hard core porn.It's superbly acted,lovingly decadent and features plenty of hot porno sequences.The blow job scene between Catherine's Maid and chauffeur is especially notable as is the first encounter between demon and Catherine.Catherine's hallucination of her younger self and her Father is a taboo-breaking but wonderfully erotic sequence where she slowly undresses for her Father,before the same ornate mirror,while he teachers her to masturbate before finally ejaculating into her mouth.The perverse climax,which takes place in desert Hell,truly has to be seen to be believed.Overall,"Through the Looking Class" is a treat for fans of surreal and bizarre cinema.It's also one of the most powerful porno films I have ever seen.10 out of 10.I can't praise it enough.

You know, 70s porn films are sometimes the most interesting things. This was an era when the film world was just on an edge, when it nearly happened that explicit sex almost became a folded, natural part of mainstream movies. Almost happened, and the residue is that some porn movies have very clever, very cinematic and intelligent ideas compared to ordinary filmdom.

I don't understand exactly what happened to prevent this; what societal forces were at work. Its too easy to blame the usual suspects. But in any case, what we have now is an odd mix of conventions: unduly exaggerated importance given to exposed breasts (mostly stage props, artificially "enhanced"), a larger emphasis on watching women as the core of sex, very strange accidents of strategically placed sheets that remind us that there is a camera in the room and that what we see is carefully staged.

And because the simulated sex is implied, it gets exaggerated so the actors are forced into extreme, dramatic postures and motions that in non-sex acting would even embarrass Booth.

Oh well, back to this. It is unavailable by mainstream means so I will have to describe it, which means the spoiler indicator.

A lovely, young woman is extremely wealthy, having inherited her father's fortune. She is married to a stern architect. We learn early that she was repeatedly molested by her father and now is obsessed with his attentions, so much so she is deranged. What we see could be her own hallucinations, but they are presented as a horrible reality.

The key to this "other world" is a large mirror that was in her bedroom during the episodes with her father. A witness of sorts. Now it is in the attic, where she repairs to masturbate. She does so one day and the mirror comes alive. The man in the mirror is half demon and half her father. The same actor plays the aggressive demon-rapist and the father in flashbacks.

Our first encounter is him coming out of the mirror in a point of view shot that approaches our heroine's crotch and literally enters her a half a foot or so. Must have been a medical camera. The reaching hands in this scene were reminiscent of "Repulsion," with much the same tone.

She then enters the mirrorworld three times. The first is for a lesbian encounter with a childhood friend. This part was confusing. This "friend" might have been the woman who is now her maid. Hard to tell. At the end, that partner is pulled away.

The second visit is to an Alice in Wonderland tableau where among a teaparty orgy is a woman literally on her hands and knees on a platter on the table, ready to be consumed from behind. Many stupid porn motions here, ending with our visiting heroine looking into the face of this sacrificial lamb and seeing her own face. She returns to reality.

Somewhere in here, about now I think is the only segment that follows the normal porn convention: sex between the maid and the chauffeur, inserted for no story-driven reason. We discover they are siblings and both lust after the beleaguered girl.

Now, finally, she enters the mirror for the last time, drawn by her father-demon's seductions. Each time she goes unwillingly. This time, she discovers that she is trapped in a purgatory with sexual tortures.

I watched this with the 1911 "L'Inferno," from which images are clearly drawn. Its similarly amateurish, the effects and the intended horrific effect — in both films. Another influence is "Flaming Creatures."

The thing ends with our woman going mad realizing she never will return to the real world and must endure an eternity of sexual torture. Meanwhile, we see her own daughter in front of the mirror beginning the same cycle.

The odd thing is that it is a truly effective horror film. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. Odd how such poor production values don't get in the way if other ones in important locations are good enough. Though Catherine Breillat's film's are similarly motivated, and can be equally — what we call "explicit" — and of course are better produced, this seemed more terrifying, as if it were a screeching street poem from a bag lady on her way down for the final count.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

It would seem that there is more to porn flicks than merely sex, as many of the best examples of the genre blend in other themes, and the resulting film is often more erotic. Through the Looking Glass is surely one of the best 'themed' porno movies from the seventies, and this film manages to blend in a strong fantasy undercurrent with hardcore pornography, and while there still isn't a great deal of substance; director Jonas Middleton does well in creating a fantasy atmosphere that holds intrigue while there isn't any sex going on; and not every porn film has that going for it. The main inspiration seems to be 'Alice in Wonderland', and we follow a rich socialite named Catherine as she is shown a world rich with wanton sex. She's devastated after the death of her father, and decides to console herself by masturbating in front of a mirror in the attic. This summons the ghost of her father, who quickly goes awry, and ends up taking her through the mirror. The land beyond the mirror is an alternate reality where sex rules and nobody really cares about anything else...

The main standout of this movie, for me at least, actually wasn't the sex; but rather the beautiful dreamy visuals that Jonas Middleton delights in portraying. The fact that the classic story of Alice in Wonderland was an influence is always evident, as Middleton creates his own 'wonderland', although here there's far more perversion. Naturally, there's a heavy amount of sex and the film doesn't exactly hold back, as we get full on nudity from both genders. The sex is, perhaps, not as dirty as that seen in some other smut films from the same period; but I'm pretty sure that it will satisfy any fan of hardcore porn. You can't expect great acting from a film like this, but the performances here are actually a cut above most porn films. Catherine Burgess suffices both as an actress and a beautiful woman, and makes a good lead for the film for both reasons. She is joined by prolific porn star Jamie Gillis, and they get on well with the rest of the cast. Overall, this is not merely another trashy seventies porn movie. Jonas Middleton's film is a cut above most porn and therefore comes highly recommended!