I've heard the mermaids singing

This multi award-winning debut film by Canadian director Patricia Rozema (When night is falling, 1995) is delightful in its quirkiness, touching humour and cinematic aesthetics. Polly (Sheila McCarthy) is endearing as the single 31 year-old naive, scatty secretary who has problems in keeping a job, and who uses her photography as a way of escaping into a magical dreamworld of fantasy where she can be whoever she wants to be. When Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon), curator of an art gallery and an aspiring artist, takes Polly on as her permanent part-time assistant, Polly is ecstatic and it is not long before Polly finds herself totally infatuated with the worldly sophisticated and beautiful Gabrielle. But all is not as it seems and the story takes an unexpected twist when Mary (Ann-Marie MacDonald), artist and ex-lover of Gabrielle’s arrives on the scene. Weaving between color and black and white, reality and fantasy, this lyrical film of the abstract world of art and artists is refreshingly original and Sheila McCarthy as Polly is just superb. Cast also includes Richard Monette and John Evans. Written by Patricia Rozema and cinematography by Douglas Koch. (Awards: Cannes; Genie Awards) NB: Inconsistent sound quality.