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The Seashell and the Clergyman
The Seashell and the Clergyman
7.9
/10
641 Ratings

THE SEASHELL AND THE CLERGYMAN

La coquille et le clergyman

Directed by Germaine Dulac
France, 1927
Short, Avant-Garde, Fantasy, Silent

Synopsis

Obsessed with a general’s woman, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust, struggling against his own eroticism and his unspeakable desires. With the help of a large oyster shell, he pours a black liquid into a bottle which he then breaks….

Synopsis

Obsessed with a general’s woman, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust, struggling against his own eroticism and his unspeakable desires. With the help of a large oyster shell, he pours a black liquid into a bottle which he then breaks….

Our take

One of the first surrealist films, Germaine Dulac’s avant-garde masterwork evokes the dream world of a celibate curate with ravishing visual flair. Await special-effects galore: from split screens to contorted images, the work shimmers with imagination, and was based on an Antonin Artaud screenplay!