Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely Fantastic

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

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.

If you are looking for a twin movie to go alongside Luis Buñuel's surrealist head-scratcher Un Chien Andalou, then look no further than this film. The Seashell and the Clergyman shares that famous movie's bizarre, often indecipherable, imagery as well as anti-clerical subversion and frank sexuality. I can't say I understood what was going on. I'm not sure if I was even supposed to. But like Buñuel's film this movie is all about surrealism, it doesn't always have logical meaning. An image such as the clergyman crawling through the streets of Paris is something that is not easily forgotten and the film in general operates in the same way as a dream. The best way to appreciate a film such as this is to sit back and take in the imaginative visuals and dream-like ambiance that is specific to these ancient silent movies. If you are at all interested in 20's surrealist cinema then this is a film I would definitely recommend. Also, the fact that a woman made such a provocative film all those years ago is especially surprising seeing as female artists have always struggled with having their voice heard.

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

Germaine Dulac was no ordinary French female film-director. She was Avante-Garde and radical in her film-making which did not include a laugh track or sound. Everything was visual and her silent classics were visuals to be appreciated and understood by all of us. There was a reason that so many people saw the same movie numerous times during that era. First, it was very inexpensive and second, you needed to revisit and see the film again and again until you saw it completely. That's how films once were, films were visual masterpieces and in Dulac's case, she helped reshape the role of women in films to include more than just being an actress. She was the producer, director, and writer. She was many things to many people on film sets in France. Film was new and fresh invention that those of us who seek to learn more about art should watch Dulac's classic.