Critical reaction to the film was generally favorable.
Ella Taylor of
The Atlantic Monthly called it an "ambitious, fascinating feature debut".
David Sterritt of
The Christian Science Monitor said "it conjures up a postmodern version of what composer
Richard Wagner called a
Gesamtkunstwerk, or 'total art work'". Ed Kelleher of
Film Journal International called it "[a] vivid, unsettling… bold, demanding film…". Also impressed,
The Boston Phoenix reported, "in its silent moments of visual horror, many of them enduringly haunting,
The Empty Mirror transcends its ambitious erudition, becoming a work of beauty and emotional depth". On
Norman Rodway as Hitler,
Joe Leydon of
MSNBC said, "Rodway – whose performance as Hitler is a canny balance of prideful fanaticism and anxious rationalization – is truly mesmerizing." Similarly,
Peter Stack of
The San Francisco Chronicle remarked, "Rodway's bellowing, sometimes pleading tour-de-force is so extraordinary that it's almost scary to watch." On a negative front,
Lawrence Van Gelder of
The New York Times, commented, "Adolf Hitler may have been many things, but it seems unlikely that he was the colossal bore portrayed in the hyperthyroid hodgepodge of pseudo-psychotherapy." Left unimpressed, Kevin Thomas of
The Los Angeles Times mused, "There's lots of flashy visuals as punctuation, but they simply serve to underline the theatricality of this entire endeavor, which belongs on a stage, if anywhere at all." ==Awards==