Le Silence de la mer / The Silence of the Sea

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Silence de la mer / The Silence of the Sea (FR 1948). Howard Vernon (Werner von Ebrenac). "Je vous souhaite une bonne nuit".

/ / FR / 1948 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / drama / Meren hiljaisuus. FR © 1948 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. 35 mm 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.