Sascha Schöberl
Germany, China | 2020 | 84 min
World premiere
Languages : Chinese, English
Subtitles : English, French
The life of Dr Han has become a permanent quest for perfection. From the livestreamed operating theatre to art fairs via fashion shows, the famous Chinese plastic surgeon has only one aim: beauty. Through the implacable portrait of this character, the film questions beauty as a simultaneously essential yet vain element of society in the era of selfies.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” This famous question that Snow White’s evil stepmother asks of her mirror every day in the popular Grimm Brothers fairy tale has become a sort of mantra these days. Sascha Schöberl seizes upon it here to give his film its title, but also to insert it into a contemporary context in which physical appearance has become an essential value of society. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall recounts the life of Doctor Han, a famous Chinese plastic surgeon who has made his life into a permanent quest for perfection. From the operating theatre to art fairs via fashion shows, Dr Han sets off in search of the absolute ideal of physical beauty. A self-proclaimed artist, he believes that his work goes beyond the medical domain: in his hands, the body becomes an artistic object. Through the implacable portrait of this character, the film questions beauty as an essential and pervasive element of society in the era of selfies.
Elena López Riera
