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A tale of lust and torment
LA COQUILLE ET LE CLERGYMEN
Union Chapel
NOW here is something completely different, a live concert accompanying a controversial yet celebrated surrealist film in the Victorian Gothic grandeur of Islington’s Union Chapel.
In 1929, the British Board of Film Classification banned Germaine Dulac’s 1928 film La Coquille et le Clergyman (The Seashell and the Clergyman) with the words “This film is apparently meaningless, but if it has any meaning it is doubtless objectionable”.
Now, thankfully, no longer banned through what appears to be a case of over-protective ignorance, the picture has slowly become recognised as a surrealist classic, capable of being compared to other similar works such as Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali’s more famous L’Age d’Or, made just a couple of years later in 1930.
Dulac’s film, based on writing by Antonin Artaud, is to be given a rare showing at architect James Cubitt’s chapel in Compton Terrace on Friday, April 13, accompanied by a new score supplied by the Minima Band.
The group features cello, guitar, drums and bass, and provides what appears to be a sparse and haunting accompaniment. There is jazz influence, the jagged rhythms and bold chords of Kurt Weill can be detected – and indeed Tom Waits – and they insist no laptops or loops are used in their performance.
But it is hard to pigeon-hole such a bold venture. Now, I must admit I have yet to see a full performance of this work but plenty of sections of the soundtrack are available on the internet and should be sought out.
The film, exploring guilt, torment and lust, and credited with being a feminist picture, is a disturbing classic and will surely have extra intensity added by such an accompaniment.
And, in any case, seeing films with live music is very much a traditional way of watching cinema and is sadly rarely done so this should be encouraged wherever possible.
The evening also includes a performance of a soundtrack with the 1924 animated film Symphonie Diagonale.
Tickets are £10 and doors open at 7pm on April 13. For further details phone
020 7226 1686.
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