"MIRROR, MIRROR..."

This claustrophobic drama recounts the psychic ordeal experienced by Jenny Didier, as she raises four children, attempts to write poetry, and deals with the culture shocks inflicted by her (infuriatingly passive) French husband and severely religious Swedish relations. In sometimes static, though occasionally quite absorbing, journal entries, all involved persons (including an importunate friend from Jennie's youth) tell the story of her breakdown, attempted suicide, and eventual resolution whereby she may at last be capable of making art out of her conflicted emotions and relationships. Author Bergman (Karin, 1989) is the sister of film director and writer Ingmar, and the family resemblance is apparent on every page of her novel--which reads, and feels, much like one of his films.