This Year's Best Actress Contenders Have One Scene in Common & It Could Carry Them to an Oscar
When you look into a mirror, it’s just you and your reflection. No one you’re trying to hide from, no one you’re trying to impress. It’s just you. And while that might mean taking a good look at your stray hairs, wrinkles and pores, it can also lead to some legendary cinematographic moments, as seen in the mirror scenes that are making waves in the 2025 awards season.
To director Gia Coppola, a mirror scene in a film can be one of the most “fulfilling” to portray. “You get to see the character sort of looking into themselves in a way and really generate, kind of, what is that emotion?” Coppola told SheKnows when I interviewed her about her critically-acclaimed Academy Award contender The Last Showgirl.
More from SheKnows
In the film, her lead character Shelly (played by Pamela Anderson) has a decisive moment looking at her reflection. Shelly, a Las Vegas showgirl forced to rearrange her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run, looks at herself in the mirror as she gets ready for her final show.
Despite the fake eyelashes, over-lined lips, and beaded headdress, Anderson’s expression draws us in. For a second, viewers understand that she’s heartbroken, lost, and scared. But then she puts on a fake, crooked smile and shows off her teeth. She’s swallowing her sadness, trying her best to pretend that everything is okay.
“We did that really kind of flippantly because I knew I wanted a moment like that, of just her having to ‘The show must go on,’ sort of expression,” Coppola says of the scene.
“Pamela was like, ‘Oh, should we do the funny smile face?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ So we just kind of covered it,” she remembers. “And then I was so grateful that we had it, and I kind of placed it there. But yeah, it’s such a great moment. It says so much.”
Another now-iconic mirror scene this past year was in Demi Moore‘s Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance. While getting ready for a date, Moore’s character repeatedly looks at herself in the mirror. But the more she looks at herself, the more she hates what she’s seeing.
Like Anderson’s Shelly, Elisabeth is at a crossroads as an aging former star who’s struggling to come to terms with the way her industry, and society, discards women of a certain age.
Soon enough, Elisabeth’s packing on heavier and heavier makeup and layering a scarf and a jacket to hide her body. In the end, she gives up going to the event altogether and furiously takes off her makeup. The scene has generated its fair share of acclaim, even in the harshest reviews of Coralie Fargeat’s film.
“It was very difficult,” Moore told Variety of filming the scene. “It’s one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the film. I think we can all relate to trying to make ourselves look better, and just making it worse and worse.”
As it turns out, in addition to the scene being emotionally demanding, it was physically taxing too. “Coralie [Fargeat] likes to do a lot of takes, and my face was just raw,” she remembered. “I got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore. And Coralie still wanted one more take. The makeup artist stepped in and said, ‘We’re done.'” Anything for the art of the mirror scene, right?
“Also, the idea of looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing only what’s wrong — it’s like you’re seeking to make yourself uglier, so you can look how you feel,” Moore reflected.
I’m Still Here star Fernanda Torres, who was awarded Best Actress in the Drama category at the Golden Globes on Jan. 5, had two impactful mirror scenes in her film.
The first happens after her character Eunice returns home after 12 days of police questioning and solitary confinement. While still getting used to the bright lights in her bathroom, Eunice undresses and looks at herself in the mirror. She’s skinnier, dirty, and absolutely exhausted. In many ways, she’s asking herself, “What have I become?”
Speaking of the scene herself, Torres admitted that there wasn’t much acting involved, Eunice’s emotions just came bubbling through her.
“What is acting in that scene? What can you do besides feeling something? Or understanding deeply an emotion? Because when you look at yourself [in the mirror], what will you do? You can’t do anything!” Torres told Collider of the moment. “And you hope that there is something there.”
“It was one of the scenes when I saw the film in the editing room that I said: ‘I felt so much for that woman that was not me anymore,'” she said, admitting that she had fully stepped into Eunice’s shoes. “And that look in the mirror was one of those moments when I didn’t do anything, I just had the feeling.”
Another one of Torres’ mirror scenes is when she’s in the elevator coming back from getting her late husband’s death certificate after years of fighting for justice. She’s happy, she’s relieved, and she’s noticing the gray hairs now growing on her head. She’s getting older, but she finally got what she wanted. Just like Eunice, viewers are finally allowed to breathe, and even let out a little smile.
Once again, the mirror scene helps depict the heroine’s relationship to aging. But unlike Elisabeth and Shelly, Eunice is just observing her grey hairs and her fine lines, there is no self-judgement. She’s not worried about what society will think of her, because she’s gotten her most prized possession in her hands.
Last, but certainly not least, in Nicole Kidman’s award-winning film, Babygirl, her character is constantly reckoning with trying to access her true self. Caught up in her seemingly flawless life as a high-powered CEO with a picture-perfect family, Kidman’s Romy doesn’t feel seen — even, at times, by herself. In a moment of vulnerability, Romy finds herself staring in the mirror interrogating the perfectly-crafted version of herself she created after her teenage daughter, Isabel (Esther McGregor,) joked that she looks “like a dead fish” as the family posed for holiday card photos after Romy topped herself up with botox and filler.
Standing in front of a mirror, Romy pouts and sees what her daughter sees — a facade blocking her from accessing her inner self. As Elisabeth does in The Substance, Romy mistakes becoming the “ideal” version of yourself with becoming the version others want to see. The more these women try to conform, the further they get from themselves.
In front of the mirror, Romy, like Elisabeth, Shelly, Eunice and all of us, is utterly exposed and vulnerable. Away from the life these women created or watched crumble around them, they reckon with themselves, and the things they’ve done or had done to them.
Mirror scenes have shaped and enhanced so many narratives this award show season and put our Best Actress contenders on center stage.
Before you go, click here to see all the details we learned from Pamela Anderson’s memoir ‘Love, Pamela.’
Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
