Reviews & Ratings for
The Seashell and the Clergyman More at IMDbPro »La coquille et le clergyman (original title)

20 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
One of most celebrated avant garde movie of all time, 4 November 2005

Author: amjad qureshi from Pakistan

The predecessor of Un Chien Andalou and directed by the lone woman filmmaker of her time, La Coquille et le Clergyman is one of the most celebrated of French avant-garde movies of the '20s, partly because Antonin Artaud wrote the script, partly because the British censor of the time banned it with the legendary words 'If this film has a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable'. Artaud was reputedly unhappy with Dulac's realization of his scenario, and it's true that the story's anti-clericalism (a priest develops a lustful passion that plunges him into bizarre fantasies) is somewhat undermined by the director's determined visual lyricism. But the fragmentation of the narrative and the innovative imagery remain provocative, and the film is of course fascinating testimony to the currents of its time.

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Interesting, but I'm still not really sure what to make of it, 19 August 2008

Author: TimothyFarrell from Worcester, MA

This is one of the earliest surrealist films, predating the more notorious "Un chien andalou" by a year. The main reason I decided to check it out was because of the involvement of Antonion Artaud, my favorite member of the original surrealist group (despite being kicked out later). He wrote the screenplay, and many of his running themes appear. There's fall from grace, fear of sex, and the entwining of fantasy and reality to the point the audience is unable to tell one from the other and becomes "involved" with the on-screen action. The film itself plays like a half remembered dream, and if you're unfamiliar with the work of Artaud, it'll likely not make too much sense. I count him as one of my favorite writers, but I'm still not too sure what to make of this project (apparently he was extremely dissatisfied with the final result).

If anything, I enjoyed watching it, as it features a great dreamlike atmosphere in the way only silent films can project. There's a lot of nice and charmingly primitive camera tricks on display here. If you enjoy the effects work of Jean Cocteau (coincidentally, my second favorite surrealist after Artaud), you'll find plenty here to be hypnotized by. The direction by Germaine Dulac keeps the atmosphere level high. Like the best surrealist work, the images don't work by any conventional logic, but achieve a sub conscience level where they work on their own - they don't make sense, but the viewer is convinced there is deeper meaning nonetheless. Artaud considered this a failure, and to be honest it is moderately disappointing, because I'd think any film revolving around his themes would be a masterpiece. Still, its interesting and worth seeking out. (8/10)

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Repression and decadence, 16 January 2010

Author: Polaris_DiB from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Wow, that was some serious repression that clergyman was wrestling with! Narratively speaking, this movie isn't really all that clear (or meant to be), but basically, a general and a clergyman get in this fight (it seems like the general starts it), and the clergyman, cowed, follows the general on his hands and feet until he observes the general talking up his girlfriend. At that point the movie spirals into insanity as the clergyman violently and desperately wrestles over his inflamed sexual attraction and his combined guilt and jealousy over the other man.

Decadence is taken on too as the clergyman mentally transitions from place to place and is horrified by the actions and glamour of those that surround him. One particularly good sequence involves the clergyman's coattails as they grow and grow, dragging him down and holding him back from the object of his desire.

Another thing worth noting is the visual effects in this movie. Mental and emotional space is created via the well-established techniques of double-exposure, dissolves, irises, pull-focus, split-screen effects, and so on, all done before but never quite like in this movie.

--PolarisDiB

A Landmark Film, 7 April 2011

Author: markallankaplan from United States

"The Seashell and the Clergyman" is the cinematic masterpiece of Germaine Dulac, mother of the first French Avant-Gard. Dulac is also believed to be one of the very first feminist filmmakers and this work is considered by many to be the very first Surrealistic film ever made (coming out one year before "Un Chien Andalou"). Many have tried to interpret this film from various perspectives but it has remained an enigma. Dulac called her work "integral cinema" and amazingly the constructs of this film hauntingly reflect patterns of what is now called Integral Theory (Ken Wilber, 1995). Looking back on this film through the lens of Integral Theory, everything makes sense and we see that this work and Dulac were just many years ahead of their time.

A good companion piece to Un Chien Andalou, 15 September 2010

Author: Mondo_Giallo from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

If you are looking for a twin movie to go alongside Luis Buñuel's surrealist head-scratcher Un Chien Andalou, then look no further than this film. The Seashell and the Clergyman shares that famous movie's bizarre, often indecipherable, imagery as well as anti-clerical subversion and frank sexuality. I can't say I understood what was going on. I'm not sure if I was even supposed to. But like Buñuel's film this movie is all about surrealism, it doesn't always have logical meaning. An image such as the clergyman crawling through the streets of Paris is something that is not easily forgotten and the film in general operates in the same way as a dream. The best way to appreciate a film such as this is to sit back and take in the imaginative visuals and dream-like ambiance that is specific to these ancient silent movies. If you are at all interested in 20's surrealist cinema then this is a film I would definitely recommend. Also, the fact that a woman made such a provocative film all those years ago is especially surprising seeing as female artists have always struggled with having their voice heard.

0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
surrealism avant garde, 19 January 2009

Author: bcurran05 from United States

Germaine Dulac was not really making a film which was ahead of it's time. surrealism was being used throughout the film makers of Europe and even being experimented with by those in the united states during this time period. Those that have studied that time period will agree that there was a lot of drug use back then and a lot of the directors were doing experimentation along these lines. Personally i don't believe that Germaine Dulac was using drugs but she was really interested in the surrealistic approach to film making.

I have watched this short several times and am still having a difficult time getting my head around what is going on, i cannot decide if the priest is suppose to be having a dream or on some kind of drugs or what, or if she made the film just in truest sense of the surrealistic tone of this movie to make the viewer question and wonder about it.

We may never know.

4 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
L'Avante-Garde, 8 October 2006

Author: (sylviastel@aol.com) from United States

Germaine Dulac was no ordinary French female film-director. She was Avante-Garde and radical in her film-making which did not include a laugh track or sound. Everything was visual and her silent classics were visuals to be appreciated and understood by all of us. There was a reason that so many people saw the same movie numerous times during that era. First, it was very inexpensive and second, you needed to revisit and see the film again and again until you saw it completely. That's how films once were, films were visual masterpieces and in Dulac's case, she helped reshape the role of women in films to include more than just being an actress. She was the producer, director, and writer. She was many things to many people on film sets in France. Film was new and fresh invention that those of us who seek to learn more about art should watch Dulac's classic.

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