I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING
A film review by Miriam Nadel
Copyright 1987 Miriam Nadel
I went to see I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING partly because the trailer was amusing and partly because the reviews I'd seen made it sound like a real feminist classic. Unfortunately, every amusing line in the movie is in the trailer and the only feminism exhibited is a demonstration that women can treat other women as badly as men do.
The movie is focused around Polly, a Girl Friday. Actually, she's now a Person Friday which, not only doesn't change the job, doesn't make her any better at it. Her life is neatly divided into work and her hobby of photography--which she also isn't much good at. One day, the agency sends her to a new job at an art gallery and Polly falls in love with the gallery's curator, Gabrielle. There's some fine potential for mocking the pretensions of the arty crowd, but most of the mockery is so heavy handed that it falls flat.
Gabrielle also has a lover, Marie, which should provide an opportunity for Polly to show some human emotions, like jealousy. But her adolescent hero worship (she even spies on Gabrielle's private conversations with the help of the gallery security system) is too shallow to permit her to do more than dream and fantasize. Marie, for her part, rightly doesn't see Polly as much of a threat. Unfortunately, one gets no idea whatsoever of what Marie does think as she mostly follows Gabrielle around virtually silently.
Overall, this is a dull movie about nasty, manipulative people who are incapable of thinking about anyone other than themselves. There's no reason to care about any of the characters, least of all Polly; in fact, I spent much of the movie wanting to grab Polly by the shoulders and shake some common sense into her. One star--see the trailer and skip the movie.
Miriam Nadel mhnadel@gryphon.CTS.COM {philabs, trwrb}!cadovax!gryphon!mhnadel {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!mhnadel
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