I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987) (Restored)

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I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing is an imaginatively absurd, magical realist story about a waifish daydreamer with artistic aspirations. In Patricia Rozema’s fanciful character study, aspiring photographer Polly (comedian Sheila McCarthy, channeling Buster Keaton) lands a job at a Toronto art gallery run by Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon), who is also a painter. Polly is impressed with Gabrielle’s paintings, but as Polly gets to know Gabrielle’s lover Mary (Ann-Marie MacDonald) and becomes entangled in their lives, she realizes Gabrielle isn’t exactly who she appears to be, and her world tilts off its axis. One of the first queer films that wasn’t only about queerness, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing takes the viewer to the enchanted places inside Polly’s mind while quietly assaulting the notion of authority everywhere. Winner of the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

To commemorate Canada 150, this film was digitally restored by Library and Archives Canada, Cinematheque Quebecoise, The Cinematheque, and TIFF. 4K Restoration made possible by The Government of Canada, Canada 150,
RBC, Ontario 150 and Telefilm.