Confusing realities surface in this paranoid film dealing with the fragile nature of a young woman, Jessie (Anne Parillaud) recovering from rape and an apparent attempted suicide.

New York Times critic Stephen Holden wrote that the film, "leaves an ambiguous impression" as he explains, "The movie, which aggressively parodies the Alfred Hitchcock of Vertigo and Marnie, may be a tongue-in-cheek spoof.

"[1] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times was positive about the film, complimenting Ruiz for his filmmaking skills and the actors Parillaud and Baldwin for their ability to shift between roles.

Thomas writes, "Ruiz piles on such questions to such dizzying heights that his picture begins to boggle the mind, like looking too long at a labyrinthine M.C.

Ruiz verges on pure cinema, relying on the camera rather than dialogue to reveal character, tell the story and express his preoccupation with the duality of human nature.

Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, "Movie patrons who sit through Shattered Image, a dreadful thriller that opens today, deserve a reward.

Guthmann continues, "The concept is vaguely intriguing, but the execution is bad enough to put you off movies for good... Ruiz's direction is clumsy, his pacing is slack and Parillaud delivers her lines in a semi-intelligible, monotone whisper.

Goddard summarizes, " While not a straight to video release, Shattered Image was not far from it and certainly resembles the kind of mass-produced kitsch Hollywood B thrillers that were in vogue at that time in the 1990s, complete with a sub-Hitchcock mystery narrative, exotic locations and intimations of both sex and violence...

In other words while there is an attempt to construct a generic and cliche narrative based on suspense, mystery, betrayal and sex, all taking place against the backdrop of the exotic location of Jamaica, the script really fails to tie all of its elements together, attaining in the process an involuntary Surrealism."