Made with erotic undertones, humour and satire, The Seashell and the Clergyman is a critique of both men and the Church in general. The world’s first surrealist film was directed by a woman and caused chaos and riots among the Parisian bohemians at its premiere. Viewers were provoked by both the film’s feminist perspective and its new, strange form.
The Seashell and the Clergyman premiered in Paris in 1927, a year before Buñuel’s much more famous surrealist film An Andalusian Dog. The film tells the story of a young, unlikeable priest who covets the beautiful Athanasiou, who is married to a military officer. He is so desperate to get her that he literally crawls after her in the streets.
Although it deals with the eroticisation of the female body, this is a fun and feminist film in which neither the priest nor the viewer manages to capture or consume the woman’s figure. When the priest rips off her dress and we see her bare breasts, they are quickly replaced by a seashell – and instead of focusing on her half-naked body, the camera moves over to the frustrated face of the priest. Athanasiou is never really objectified – her image is rather distorted or transformed into other objects – and she constantly mocks the priest who wants her so desperately.
Germaine Dulac made a vicious attack on the Church, full of drama, symbolism and also slapstick humour. What makes this film so remarkable, and a cornerstone of film history, is not really its storyline, but rather its genuine, experimental and groundbreaking new form of cinema. The film is associative in a playful way, trying to appeal to the subconscious rather than to logic. Dulac experimented with rhythm, movement, montage and light in a way that nobody had done before – creating a new surrealist cinema.
The Music
grisha223 is an artist and musician based in Tromsø. In her music, she combines sounds drawn from soundsystem and club culture with a classical violin background and electric violin. She is particularly interested in the spatial qualities of sound and in how people behave in both concert and performance situations. Her concept explores how sound can create communities and spaces where people can feel free and think in ways different from their usual patterns, with a focus on embodied emotions and sensory responses.
grisha223 has a background in the visual arts and has participated in international exhibitions with sound installations and experimental performances.
This silent film consert is a collaboration with INSOMNIA.
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