Painlevé’s first film on animal behavior, focusing on the Hermit Crab. On this film we see the Hermit Crab trying to find shelter.

Jean Painlevé’s innovative first film on animal behavior focused on the existential mysteries of the hermit crab. With a wry, self-reflexive narration and the flourishes of Vincenzo Bellini’s music, the solitary journey of a crab’s search for shelter is both spryly humorous and profoundly moving.