La cartomancienne

1932
12m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

In a European seaside village, a maiden takes clean sheets down from the clothesline. Carrying her basket of linens home, she stops to consult a fortune teller, whose been napping the the su... Read allIn a European seaside village, a maiden takes clean sheets down from the clothesline. Carrying her basket of linens home, she stops to consult a fortune teller, whose been napping the the sun. The cartomancienne sees love in the cards. The young woman pauses to reflect. We then s... Read allIn a European seaside village, a maiden takes clean sheets down from the clothesline. Carrying her basket of linens home, she stops to consult a fortune teller, whose been napping the the sun. The cartomancienne sees love in the cards. The young woman pauses to reflect. We then see water, swirling, and into view swims a man, as if just appearing on earth. He arrives o... Read all

Director
- Jerome Hill

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

195

YOUR RATING

Director
- Jerome Hill

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos1

User reviews5

6.7195

Featured reviews

Michael_Elliott

Unseen Cinema D1

La Cartomancienne (1932)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

French love story about a fortune teller lusting after a strongman. The story is incredibly slow moving and boring but the visual effects are quite amazing as are the special effects.

In Youth, Beside the Lovely Sea (1925)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

An early widescreen film that was told by cutting the two sides of the image off and replacing them with a different image. This makes for a nice look, although the story is still a drag.

Melody on Parade (1936)

** (out of 4)

Musical short about Presidents of the United States with the added bonus of a sing a long.

6boblipton

That's A Woman Who Uses Cards To Read Character And Foretell

A young woman carries a basket of laundry, but pauses to have another woman read a pack of worn-out cards to see her future. The cards speak of love, and we then see the first woman and a young man encounter each other.

Jerome Hill's experimental film is a valiant attempt to tell the tale in a purely visual manner. In broad outline, he certainly succeeds. In detail, he inundates the audience with many images filled with symbolic portent, from the half-ruined castle in which the card reading is given, to the more obvious ones like the circlet of flowers the first woman weaves. I have the impression that this was done in an effort to allow the audience to choose their own interpretation.

10mrdonleone

praises from an experimental film lover

you want to see the very principles of experimental filming? don't hesitate watching 'La Cartomancienne', a short film work of pure genius. you get to see lights that transcend into images like Busby Berkeley would adapt in his 'Gold Diggers ...' series. you see philosophical images which raises questions faster than answers, like the scenes from a David Lynch movie, only sixty years later. you see unclear things and entities in the water of a lake, as Kenneth Anger would do in his 'Eaux Artifices', thirty years later. in fact, the whole picture can't be reviewed without making comparisons with Maya Deren's 'Meshes of the Afternoon'. they contain both almost the same story in other pictures. our conclusion is that there would be no experimental film today without 'La Cartomancienne' in 1932.