The Mirror 1999

Crime

Mystery

Horror

Runtime

87 mins

Language

Cantonese

Directed by

Stanley Siu Wing

Made by

Mandarin Films Ltd.

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The Mirror Plot Summary

Read the complete plot summary and ending explained for The Mirror (1999). From turning points to emotional moments, uncover what really happened and why it matters.

The Mirror Timeline

Follow the complete movie timeline of The Mirror (1999) with every major event in chronological order. Great for understanding complex plots and story progression.

Murder in 16th-century China: blood on the mirror

A courtesan is murdered in a 16th-century Chinese brothel, and her blood spills onto the mirror on the dressing table. This moment anchors the mirror as a central plot device that haunts the stories to come. The scene establishes a sense of malevolent fate linked to the dressing table.

16th century China, 16th-century brothel

Mary receives the antique dressing table in Shanghai

Mary, an heiress, is gifted the antique dressing table in Shanghai. She notices something strange about the mirror and begins receiving eerie phone calls that remind her of dark secrets from her past. The calls hint that hidden sins will not stay buried.

1922 Shanghai, China

Mary's affair and the plan to silence the professor

Mary recalls her affair with a married professor who already had a family. She plots to silence him so she can take over his mansion. The past she tried to bury resurfaces as she contemplates her crime.

1922 Shanghai, China

Confrontation with the professor's daughters

One night, two servants confront Mary and reveal that they are the professor's daughters seeking revenge. They pursue justice for their father by enacting their vendetta. The confrontation marks a turning point in the mirror tied to Mary's fate.

1922 Shanghai, China

One night stand and forced marriage in Singapore

James has a one-night stand with Lora in Singapore. Lora's burly Teochew-speaking brother Roman forces James to marry her. The marriage ties him to the haunted dressing table from this point onward.

1988 Singapore

Lora moves in and the table's presence unsettles the house

Lora moves into James's house and brings along the antique dressing table inherited from her deceased parents. The mirror's presence begins to unsettle the household as strange occurrences hint at a hidden history.

1988 Singapore

Greed over justice: the million-dollar defense

A mysterious woman offers James a million dollars to defend her son, accused of raping a woman and murdering her boyfriend. James, driven by greed, accepts the case and wins in court. The case deepens the mirror's moral corruption inside him.

1988 Singapore

Car accident and the new face

After the courtroom victory, James is involved in a car accident and suffers severe facial injuries. He undergoes reconstructive surgery and, when the bandages are removed, looks exactly like the rape victim's deceased boyfriend.

1988 Singapore

Ming's return and Yu's jealousy in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong during 1999, Ming returns from overseas with his girlfriend Judy and announces their engagement. Yu, the grandmother's granddaughter who loves Ming, grows jealous as she watches Judy with suspicion.

1999 Hong Kong

The dressing table enters the household again

Ming and Judy purchase the antique dressing table and bring it home, deepening the sense that the mirror will influence their fortunes. Yu finds the mirror unsettling and notices Judy's puppy barking inexplicably at her.

1999 Hong Kong

Grandmother goes missing and is found dead

Judy's puppy is killed and Ming's grandmother goes missing the following night. The grandmother is later found dead with her body dismembered, and Yu is arrested for the murder.

1999 Hong Kong

Judy's true nature and Ming's confrontation

Ming confronts Judy and suspects that she killed the grandmother to inherit the fortune. Judy reveals her true colors and tries to kill Ming, but ends up impaling herself on a pair of scissors fixed to the dressing table. Yu is later cleared.

1999 Hong Kong

Eyeballs in the mirror: Taiwan 2000

In Taiwan in 2000, a woman approaches the antique dressing table and sees her eyeballs fall out in the mirror. The horrifying image reinforces the mirror s cursed grip on the living.

2000 Taiwan

The Mirror Characters

Explore all characters from The Mirror (1999). Get detailed profiles with their roles, arcs, and key relationships explained.

Ming (Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung)

A modern Hong Kong man central to the 1999 segment, Ming returns with Judy and contemplates marriage while Yu’s jealousy brews in the background. He navigates love, ambition, and the moral murkiness surrounding the antique dressing table. While he tries to hold onto trust, Judy’s deception pushes the story toward a violent climax tied to the mirror’s dark history.

🎭 Drama 🧭 Identity

Judy (Ruby Lin)

Judy is Ming’s girlfriend in the 1999 segment, outwardly charming but deeply manipulative. She reveals her true colors as greed and jealousy take hold, culminating in an attempt on Ming’s life. Her death—impaled on a pair of scissors fixed to the dressing table—marks a brutal culmination of the mirror’s corrupting influence.

🎭 Drama 🧩 Deception

James (Jack Neo)

A Singaporean lawyer in 1988 who leads with opportunism after a one-night stand with Lora. He is dragged into scandal when he defends a rape case for money, only to face the consequences of greed and moral compromise. His career and appearance become entwined with the mirror’s uncanny power.

🎭 Drama 💼 Law & Greed

Lora (Lynn Poh)

Lora is James’s wife in 1988 who inherits and houses the dressing table. Her interactions with James and the table unfold against the backdrop of a courtroom case and the unspoken tensions of marriage. She becomes a conduit through which the mirror’s influence spreads in this segment.

🎭 Drama 💍 Inheritance

Roman (John Cheng)

Roman is Lora’s burly Teochew-speaking brother who imposes traditional control, forcing James into a marriage with Lora. His presence grounds the segment’s cultural tensions and adds a physical barrier to the unfolding drama. He embodies the everyday power dynamics that the mirror magnifies across generations.

🎭 Drama 🗡️ Violence

Mary (Xu Fan)

Mary is the Shanghai heiress in 1922 who receives the dressing table as a birthday gift. She embarks on a dark affair with a professor who already has a family, ultimately poisoning him to secure power and wealth. The professor’s daughters reveal themselves later, avenging their father as the mirror reflects a different face of guilt.

🎭 Drama 💔 Revenge

Yu (Lillian Ho Ga-Lai)

Yu is Ming’s cousin in the 1999 segment who harbors strong romantic jealousy toward Ming and Judy. She becomes a central figure in the family tension surrounding the dressing table, ultimately facing the consequences of the table’s history. Her presence amplifies the emotional stakes of the final acts.

🎭 Drama 🧭 Jealousy

Aunt Lan (Helena Law Lan)

Aunt Lan appears as the elder relative in the 1999 storyline, connected to the family’s past and the dressing table’s legacy. Her disappearance and the surrounding mystery contribute to the segment’s overall sense of dread and tragedy. She embodies the generational weight that the mirror’s stories carry forward.

🎭 Drama 🧓 Family

Courtesan (Sherming Yiu Lok-Yee)

The murdered courtesan from the 16th‑century segment, her death sets the mirror’s haunting legacy in motion. Her blood on the mirror marks the first link in the chain of retribution and secrets that echo through the subsequent eras. She is the earliest embodiment of the mirror’s power to bind fates.

💃 Drama 🕯️ Mystery

Rape Victim (Karen Tong Bo-Yue)

A woman whose experience is centered around the 1988 case that James confronts in court. Her tragedy intersects with the mirror’s influence on justice, where greed and appearances complicate truth. Her presence foreshadows the darker side of the table’s legacy.

⚖️ Justice 💔 Trauma

Rape Victim's Boyfriend (Raymond Wong Pak-Ming)

The boyfriend in the 1988 case who becomes a focal point of the murder scenario James faces in court. His fate and the case’s outcome illustrate how the mirror’s history permeates modern-day consequences. His role is pivotal to the narrative of vengeance and accountability.

⚖️ Justice 💔 Tragedy

The Mirror Settings

Learn where and when The Mirror (1999) takes place. Explore the film’s settings, era, and how they shape the narrative.

Time period

16th century; 1922; 1988; 1999; 2000

The film spans five distinct time periods across East Asia, from a 16th‑century Chinese brothel to early 20th‑century Shanghai, late 20th‑century Singapore, and turn‑of‑the‑millennium Hong Kong and Taiwan. Each era places ordinary people in extraordinary moral tests amplified by the mirror’s eerie influence. Cultural backdrops like the Ghost Festival in 1988 Singapore anchor the stories in their respective moments. The dressing table serves as a throughline that binds past and present, fate and choice.

Location

China, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan

The Mirror follows five interlinked stories anchored by an antique dressing table whose mirror connects disparate eras. The first tale unfolds in a 16th‑century China brothel where the courtesan is murdered and her blood stains the dressing-table mirror. Subsequent segments move through Shanghai (1922), Singapore (1988Ghost Festival era), Hong Kong (1999), and Taiwan (2000), each using the same mirror to reveal secrets, temptations, and consequences across time.

🗺️ Multi-location 🕰️ Historical eras 🎭 Drama 🔍 Mystery

The Mirror Themes

Discover the main themes in The Mirror (1999). Analyze the deeper meanings, emotional layers, and social commentary behind the film.

🪞

Mirror

The mirror is more than a reflection; it is a narrative device that binds five stories across centuries. It reveals secrets and often distorts truth, forcing characters to confront guilt, desire, and consequence. Its presence blurs lines between justice and vengeance, making identity contingent on perception. Across segments, the mirror tests loyalties and reveals how people are changed by what they see.

💰

Greed

Greed drives pivotal choices from poisoning for inheritance to legal deceit for wealth. The characters chase fortune at the expense of conscience, willing to risk relationships and reputations. The mirror’s pull intensifies greed, showing how wealth can corrupt judgment across generations. Each era presents a different form of avarice, from romantic manipulation to courtroom strategies.

🔎

Deception

Deception operates as a social and personal mask, with lovers, spouses, and heirs concealing true motives. The dressing table becomes, in part, a stage where appearances mislead and truths emerge only under pressure. Characters weaponize secrets to gain advantage, often paying a steep moral toll. The stories explore how far people will go to protect or gain power.

⚔️

Revenge

Revenge threads through the narratives as a response to betrayal, murder, and injustice. In Shanghai, the professor’s daughters retaliate for their father’s death; in other eras, characters pursue vengeance framed by fate and the mirror’s influence. The pursuit of vengeance often spirals into self-destruction, highlighting the cycle of violence the dressing table seems to preserve. Ultimately, revenge exposes the limits of justice when driven by passion.

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