Le Silence de la Mer
(1949)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville.
Written by: Jean-Pierre Melville based
on the short story by Vercors.
Starring: Howard Vernon (Werner von
Ebrennac), Nicole Stéphane (The Niece), Jean-Marie Robain (The Uncle).
The
French Auteur Jean-Pierre Melville would make some visually brilliant films –
films that often don’t rely on dialogue at all, but their visuals. He would
also go onto to make one of the defining films of the French resistance during
WWII in his 1969 masterpiece Army of Shadows. His first film as a director
though was Le Silence de la Mar – which he shot in 1947 just after the war, and
was released in 1949. It is a much quieter film about a much quieter form of
resistance by the French in WWII – and also an angry film about what was done
to his country. It is essentially a three-person drama, almost all set inside
one house is rural, occupied France. There an Uncle (Jean-Marie Rabin) and his
niece (Nicole Stephane) live out their lives under occupation, until there is a
knock on their door – and soon they have been assigned a German officer to stay
with them. This is Werner von Ebrennac (Howard Vernon) - a Francophile of a
sort. Much of the film takes place around the fire, in the sitting room of this
house. Werner talks and talks and talks about how this war will ultimately be a
good thing – it will bring together the German and the French culture and
people. The Uncle and Niece don’t say a word. We hear the Uncle – extensively –
in voiceover describing the action. But if the Officer is around, they don’t speak.
The
film then, probably shouldn’t work. It breaks the cardinal rule of show, don’t
tell – and even does it one better (worse) in that the Uncle is often
describing action that we are quite literally watching at the exact same moment
– the definition of redundancy. And it, once you sink into its rhythms, it
becomes very quietly involving. The voiceover works, if for no other reason
than without it, the film would be so quiet if Werner isn’t talking, and also
there would be no way for the Uncle’s point-of-view to come across (in part,
this is because of the strange decision to cast a man in his 30s to play the
Uncle, then place him in old age makeup – which isn’t so much distracting, as
confusing, as it doesn’t allow much acting by Robain through his face – he
doesn’t need it though, since the whole point is that the two of them are
essentially emotionless whenever the officer is around.
The
film, I think, shows the quiet resolve of the French people. This old man and
this young woman have no other way in which to resist the occupation that has
taken over their country. They cannot fight – it would mean their death – and
they cannot do much else. What they can do is be quietly defiant in the face of
this intrusion into their home. And they do that. It is also an interesting
choice to have Werner be one of the “good ones” as it were. Werner really does
see this war as a good thing. When he talks he is full of hope for the future –
he is optimistic. He knows they are ignoring him, and yet he wants to reassure
them anyway.
For
the most part, the attempts to open up the narrative don’t work as well – the
film is best, when it is this quiet war in the home. But it’s necessary for the
final turns in the movie. As Werner talks to the other German officers, he
realizes – apparently for the first time – just what his country is doing, and
what it plans to do. He is horrified and sickened by what he hears – and he
cannot live with himself anymore. This leads to the climactic scene – which, of
course, is very quiet – where for the first time instead of just walking into
the living room, he knocks at the door – and waits for a reply. He finally gets
one – just three short words by the Uncle, and upon entering, and telling them
what he’s going to do, he gets one word from the niece as well. It’s as
shocking as four words could ever be in a movie.
This
film isn’t that masterpiece that Army of Shadows is – or Le Samourai, or
several other Melville films are. But it’s a very interesting starting point
for Melville. It’s also not as bitter and angry as the opening title card –
which says reconciliation between France and Germany is impossible – would lead
you to believe. Yes, it’s hard to believe that there could be a German officer
like Werner, shocked by the reality of what his people are doing. But it’s
interesting to think of one of them having morals enough to be sickened by it,
but not enough to actually do something useful. Melville would go onto make
several masterworks. This isn’t one – but it’s still a damn good place to
start.
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