I've Heard the Mermaids Singing

Ive Heard the Mermaids Singing is an imaginatively absurd, magical realist story about a waifish daydreamer with artistic aspirations. In Patricia Rozemas 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 Gabrielles paintings, but as Polly gets to know Gabrielles lover Mary (Ann-Marie MacDonald) and becomes entangled in their lives, she realizes Gabrielle isnt exactly who she appears to be, and her world tilts off its axis. One of the first queerfilms that wasnt only about queerness, Ive Heard the Mermaids Singing takes the viewer to the enchanted places inside Pollys 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 Quebeco