Picture French friend reflecting beside empty grave (5)
I believe the answer is:
image
'picture' is the definition.
(I know that picture can be written as image)
'french friend reflecting beside empty grave' is the wordplay.
'french friend' becomes 'ami' (I've seen this in another clue).
'reflecting' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'beside' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'empty' means to remove the middle letters.
'grave' with its middle removed is 'ge'.
'ami' backwards is 'ima'.
'ima'+'ge'='IMAGE'
(Other definitions for image that I've seen before include "Mental picture; metaphor" , "Mental or physical representation" , "Likeness or mental picture" , "Presentation" , "Likeness; statue" .)