Reflective Encounters

“Elidh Niccol’s animation Silvering is a visually striking look at the fears women face during the aging process. The film speaks to anxieties pertaining to beauty standards imposed by our patriarchal society and the loss of self worth this can lead to.

Every aspect of the central female figure’s routine in the bathroom is subject to scrutiny - why do we shave our legs or pluck hairs from our face? Niccol offers answers at every turn - before we see the woman’s full image in the frame, we see parts of her reflected in a tap, half a medicine cabinet, and finally two mirrors. The modern world is designed to constantly remind us of what we look like, and it can inspire devastating emotional consequences.

Silvering offers a nightmarish vision of such a crisis beautifully rendered in hand-drawn animation. The central female figure feels trapped in a womb-like box as she imagines her hair greying and her breasts sagging. She eventually breaks out of her depressive spiral and leaves the bathroom, but the film ends with the potential for future self doubt. Niccol leaves us with these issues to ponder further and to consider the impact of age on women’s mental health.”

— Lillian Crawford