The wonder of this film, like one of the paintings it features, can't be described in words. It is pure magic in the most abstract form! One can't help but adore Polly's originality (Sheila McCarthy). This is a fantastically crafted and acted film. It will trigger your imagination and place a smile on your face. After the film is over, you won't be able to stop dreaming. I can't watch it enough! It is very sad that it is no longer in print (at least last I checked) and I am very lucky to have purchased it in the Laser Disc format when I did. I have been a fan of this film since I was 20 and am still a fan 14 years
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
1987
Action / Comedy / Drama
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
1987
Action / Comedy / Drama
Plot summary
Polly Vandersma, an unsuccessful and somewhat talented photographer leads a solitary life in a Toronto apartment with her photos as the only décor and her bathroom-turned-darkroom as her one friend. She's neither self-absorbed or bleak, instead content within the fantastic visions she experiences when her image emerges in the developer. Her toothpaste factory job is a failure and she's a lousy typist, but life takes a turn when she lands a part-time secretarial job in a downtown art gallery working for the french curator Gabrielle, a woman as elegant, self-composed and concerned with "important art" as Polly is awkward, unsophisticated and dumbfounded by "gallery art." As a foil to Polly's innocent joy in the minutiae of the ordinary world, the failed artist Gabrielle is desperate to create "just one truly beautiful thing" before she dies. Polly's first person narration in this 1987 low budget film, juxtaposed with the director's view of her photographic antics, creates an insight into the odd world in which she's fallen a la a very modern day public radio program examining one's internal views and external outcomes. In the cross-hairs of Polly's and Gabrielle's lives, the film examines the ages old ideas of what is love and art? What is talent and worth?
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Sheila McCarthy as Polly Vandersma
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 763.2 MB
988*720
English 2.0
R
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
Absolutely Magical!
Reviewed by
Art at a Different Level and Beyond Reach
This is one of the two simple films about art that made deep impact on me even after all these years since their releases.
Patricia Rozema's "I've Heard the Mermaids Singing" deals with the subjectivity of art which is always relevant in any context. The master's childish art is readily being celebrated and consumed like fast food while the amateur's masterpiece is undiscovered but remain sacred. It reminds us to keep true art away from the corruption of consumerism.
Victor Erice's "The Quince Tree Sun" is probably the most boring film you'll ever watch, but just as the artist finds it impossible to capture the shifting sunlight, we realize it is no longer important to finish a piece of painting, if at all it is possible, as art is in the process not the result. We consciously experience the passing of time while watching the film! Brilliant.
Both films allow art to be taken to a different level, beyond the reaches of commercialism and physicality.
Reviewed by
True Original
Sheila McCarthy shines in this exploration of the imagination, the artist and the self.
It is one of my top ten films of all time because of its originality and ,of course, McCarthy's offbeat and touching performance. She creates something truly original that has not been matched in a female comedic performance since.
Direction is crisp, unexpected and magical. One can see why it was given a standing ovation at Cannes.
It is one of the few films that can me on a pure emotional level..appealing to the misunderstood individual.
Anyone who has felt like they don't fit in will love this movie. Be sure to watch the closing credits to the end.
Now On DVD with Rozema's commentary.