The Seashell and the Clergyman

La coquille et le clergyman (original title) | Germaine Dulac | France | 1927 | Short, 31 min

October 28, 2012

The Seashell and the Clergyman. Directed by Germaine Dulac (1882-1942). Shot June-September 1927. Premiere at Ciné-Club de France October 25, 1927. First theatrical exhibition February 9, 1928 at Studio des Ursulines, Paris. Scenario by Antonin Artuad, revised by Dulac. Photographed by Paul Guichard. Edited and special effects by Paul Parguel. Cast: Alex Allin (clergyman), Lucien Bataille (general), Gênica Athanasiou (woman).

In this independent production, often regarded as the first surrealist film, Dulac employs dream-like environments to probe the mind of a cleric whose religious vows frustrate his sexual impulses. It was originally banned by the British Board of Censors, which issued the statement that "the film is so cryptic as to be almost meaningless. If there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable."

"The film is composed of a series of episodes using Freudian imagery to express the clergyman's mental anguish. Antonin Artaud, dissatisfied with the way Dulac handled his script, incited against her at the Studio des Ursulines. Despite Artaud's dissatisfaction, Dulac's film is a sincere and honest experiment whose sequences in the streets of Paris are especially notable."

—French film historian Georges Sadoul