I've Heard The Mermaids Singing

SESSION THREE: 17 DEC 2011. 3:30 pm

Canada

I’VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING

Dir. Patricia Rozema. 1987. 81 min. English.

Script: Patricia Rozema.

Starring: Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, Ann/Marie MacDonald, Richard monette, John Evans

A quirky story about the search for real beauty, and about coming out.... as an artist!

What are the main things in life? When you are poor, uneducated, and ugly, like Polly, doors don’t automatically open to you. But Polly is not interested in getting places, other than in her imagination, and she has one love which absorbs her: photography. Wandering around with her camera, Polly never feels alone. Capturing little, unimportant, unspectacular things, she has hoarded hundreds of images which are priceless to her. When she finds a job working for a beautiful and glamorous woman, she gets a bit distracted; when she discovers that her boss is lesbian, she is flabbergasted; when she realises that there is a whole world out there which she may never have access to, this seems too much to bear. All that glitters is not gold, however, as Polly will soon discover. This film offers a thoughtful and funny take at the social value of appearances, the nonsense of the commercial art world, and the ability of art to make us happy. By the end of the film, Polly is rich, wise, and beautiful. She hasn’t changed, we have.

Film Qlub

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