Tumulte Aux Ursulines

Synopsis

In 1928, Germaine Dulac shot the film The Seashell and the Clergyman, which was based on the script of the surrealist poet Antonin Artaud. However, their co-operation ended in dispute which in fact culminated during the premiere of the film on February 9, 1928 at Studio des Ursulines. That night, as well as the scandal it caused, was indelibly printed on film history. Shot in the same cinema as that of the premiere, this documentary gives an account of the attack and booing against Dulac, primarily provoked by Antonin Artaud, André Breton and Louis Aragon. Alain Virmaux, a connoisseur in surrealism and particularly Artaud’s, recounts the period prior to the premiere and expounds the different versions of that night. Also, the documentary pays tribute to the Ursulines Studio, a landmark cinema of 1920s avant-garde film.