My Favorite Mermaid Movies

There have been many films that feature mermaids over the past 100 years. Here are seven of my favorites and a video clip from each. 

The Little Mermaid (1989)

I have to start with Disney's The Little Mermaid. Even though it's an animated feature and Disney completely changed the ending of the original Hans Christian Anderson tale, it's a beautiful film and the songs are catchy as only Howard Ashman and Alan Menken songs can be. 

Miranda (1948)

The post- war world seemed to have a sudden love affair with mermaids. And Miranda starring Glynnis Johns, who later appeared in Mary Poppins, takes a charming turn as a mermaid all the men fall for in this twist on the classic drawing room comedy. In this clip Miranda is brought to visit the seals at the London Zoo by an admirer. 

Mr Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)

Another post-war treatment of mermaids. This time Mr. Peabody, played by William Powell, works through his mid-life issues in his romantic and whimsical relationship with a mermaid, played by Ann Blyth. This clip shows her swimming in Mr. Peabody's pond. This clip is colorized, the original film is black and white. 

Splash (1984)

Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah's charm and chemistry make Splash a romantic comedy worth watching and elevate it to a classic that rises above its 1980's setting. 

The Secret of the Roan Inish (1994)

While not strictly about mermaids, half woman, half fish, The Secret of the Roan Inish by John Sayles addresses the Irish equivilent with a beautiful and haunting story about selkies, the Irish sea-spirits who can change from seals to humans. 

Ondine (2009)

A more recent Irish film that plays with the selkie legends. A mysterious and beautiful woman turns up in fisherman Colin Farrell's nets. Is she really a selkie or is something else going on?

La Sirene by George Melies (1904)

This last clip is from the the short silent film La Sirene by pioneer filmmaker George Melies and is probably the first film to be made about a mermaid. In the film, a magician performs his routine, fishing out of his top hat and finally transforming the normal world to the undersea world. My favorite shot is the first one of the mermaid, through the fish tank. 

Blue Jasmine and Blue Jeanette

Friday night we went to see Woody Allen’s new film Blue Jasmine at Cinema Salem. I wouldn’t say it was a film I enjoyed so much that I’d want to see it again, but I found Cate Blanchett’s performance powerful and intriguing.

Jasmine, as she's renamed herself from Jeanette, is a woman built from a life of leisure and financial ease. She dropped out of college before graduating to marry the dashing and wealthy Hal, played by Alec Baldwin. And for the last 25 years she’s hosted charity benefits, shopped the finest of Park Avenue's wares, and raised a son to attend Harvard.

However, all is not well with Jasmine and as the film continues we find that the false sense of security she has relied on has just come crashing down.  The money is gone, invested in phony properties and schemes by Hal. Not to mention the discovery of Hal's numerous affairs. Jasmine moves across country, from New York City to San Francisco, to live with her sister Ginger, until she gets back on her feet.

For most women this would be devastating, but for Jasmine, the thought of starting over and trying to make her own way in the world is nearly unbearable. She is beyond fragile. The daily stresses of living have been shielded from her for so long that she is overcome with panic attacks, sweats and is forced to imbibe a steady stream of vodka martinis with a twist of lemon to make it through normal social interactions.

I think one of the more interesting ways to watch Blue Jasmine would be from a perspective of hair and makeup. You can chart Jasmine’s journey by observing her physical appearance. In the beginning of the film and throughout flashbacks to her old life, her golden hair is coiffed, make up applied, and her face is a matte mask of porcelain beauty.

Blanchett is most striking in a flashback where she and a friend have just come back from a ride. Jasmine strides onto an airy veranda, brown jodhpurs fitting perfectly, her hair pulled back in a low ponytail with just the right amount of volume at the crown of her head, and a slight healthy flush on her cheeks to indicate physical exertion. She may as well have just shot a ten-point buck. She’s glorious, resplendent in her complete appearance of self-mastery and poise. 

Compare that to her present day realities in San Francisco. Jasmine frequently appears sweaty, her dark roots showing, black eyeliner and mascara running from her ice blue eyes. She pulls it together for a little while, as she takes a job as a receptionist and starts to date a promising potential foreign diplomat, Dwight.

But, history has a way of repeating itself for Jasmine, and the same denial that brought her marriage to a disastrous end brings her potential with Dwight to a close as well.

There are comic moments in Blue Jasmine, it’s not all tragedy. And the role in the hands of a lesser actress would have been irritating.

Yet, somehow Blanchett brings you to sympathy. It’s at her most vulnerable, hair tangled and ratty, face bare; no trace of make up to be seen, that we finally see her as she is. No masks. Naked.

The smile she gives us is her only genuine one in the whole film.  And although she’s at her lowest point, she’s never been more beautiful.

We're not sure what will happen to Jasmine at the end of the film. Will she finally start living as a whole, real person, admitting of her faults as well as her accomplishments? Or, will she descend deeper into mental illness, succumbing to her foreshadowed archetype Blanche Dubois from A Streetcar Named Desire?

That choice is before her. She had started down the road of self-reliance earlier in the film, but meeting Dwight sucked her into her former securities of perfectionism and relying on a man to solve her problems. We hope that Jasmine finds the inner strength to move forward with honesty, just as we all do when life turns out different from what we planned. It's a step up, a step forward, and a step toward becoming fully human.