Wednesday, February 11, 1998

Le Silence de la mer

/ / FR / 1948 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / drama
Silence de la mer, Le / The Silence of the Sea / Meren hiljaisuus. © Melville Productions. EX: Pierre Braunberger. P+D+SC+ED: Jean-Pierre Melville - based on the novel by Vercors [Jean Bruller, 1941]. DP: Henri Decaë. M: Edgar Bischoff. CAST: Howard Vernon (Werner von Ebrenac), Nicole Stéphane (niece), Jean-Marie Robain (uncle). 86’ according to the BFI CD-ROM. B&w Academy. Print: Centre Culturel Français (Helsinki) / Ministère des affaires étrangères (France) ran 88’. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 10 February 1998. **** Besides the Archive this film has only been seen in Finland on TV 20 years ago, when I first saw it. Now it had grown in laconic force. The exact cinematography, the precise composition and the strong music give tremendous impact to the simple, strange story of a German officer’s desillusion in Occupied France.

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