Watch The Seashell and the Clergyman For Free

Redundant and unnecessary.

People are voting emotionally.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Don't Believe the Hype

This half hour is probably one of Germaine Dulac's two most known films and it's actually the shorter of the two. It is black-and-white and was made over 85 years ago. There are basically only 3 characters in this film. A general, his girl and a priest who has an interest in the girl despite his profession. The temptation is, of course, sort of the devil for him. I have to say I quite liked the three performances. Their physical approach to the characters was pretty good and also thumbs up for whoever cast them And the general's face is so so memorable. Unfortunately, it turns out to be one of these silent films where it becomes more and more unclear the longer the movie goes on. Quite a shame actually as many other factors were pretty well done here, but this core component simply is not working. Such a shame. You can, of course, read a summary before and will maybe understand better what is going on, but this is not an appropriate solution in my opinion. I cannot recommend this film.

A priest sits at a table, pouring a little bit of liquid (from a large seashell) into a laboratory flask (similar to an Erlenmeyer), then throws the flask to pieces on the floor, and repeats this ritual seemingly endlessly (what, in fact is he doing?). Then enters an army general, who moves in peculiar ways (over the ceiling, for instance) through the room. He takes the seashell from the priest and (with his sword) destroys it. It takes many a strange and absurd scene until the priest regains this shell, which holds his reflection (his soul?) inside it.'La coquille et la clergyman' may be an experimental film in many aspects, it dóes have a (complex) story with a beginning and an end, even if it is said about that that it takes places in the subconscious of the priest's mind... Well, I just saw this one only once, and I am far from making my mind up about what it truly is - apart from what it is meant to be (note that this film is the vision of director Dulac, and that it is assumed that writer Artaud was not content with the final result - in what way exactly, I don't know).So, what cán I say? This is simply a great film, and it amazed me to be made as early as 1928. There is a likeness with the German expressionism (for instance when the use of light and shadows), the actors do a great job (especially Allin), and it is full of wonderful film techniques, settings, ideas and camera angles - how refreshing, even, or especially, in 2013. And then there's some adult material in there which I simply did not expect - bravo! Oh, I saw a (the?) forty minute version, what a treat: 9 out of 10.

"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.

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