Film

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987)

Director: Patricia Rozema

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

When Polly, a gauche, 'organisationally impaired' temp who indulges in absurdly ethereal daydreams and photography, gets a job at a trendy gallery, she develops a crush on her sophisticated, seemingly imperturbable boss, Gabrielle, and unwittingly becomes involved in an art fraud. Unlike her protagonist, Rozema never puts a foot wrong. Polly is granted her own subtle dignity, Gabrielle and her lesbian lover transcend conventional villainy, and an allegorical subtext warning against blind faith in false gods is handled so lightly as to be virtually invisible. For all its social satire, however, this is Polly's film. She is, perhaps, the most memorable, genuinely likeable screen creation in years, and Rozema's debut - touching, hilarious, as fresh as a summer breeze - does her ample justice.

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