Review of The Silence of the Sea (1949) by Anders A — 24 Oct 2012
Melville's first film is very good indeed. Drawn from a popular short story circulated by the French Resistance during WWII, it depicts a German officer taking forced lodging with an elderly French man and his niece.
The German is full of romantic notions of a merger of French poetry and literature with German classical music, a marriage of two cultures, and although the man and his niece refuse to speak to him or even acknowledge his presence, he delivers them nightly monologues that make him a sympathetic character.
Unfortunately, the reality of the Nazis' aims is eventually made clear and the German is seriously disillusioned. Melville's attention to small details (and sounds) is already apparent and he decorates the film with expressionistic touches (point of view shots, close-ups of eyes, distant views of Chartres, etc).
This review of The Silence of the Sea (1949) was written by Anders A on 24 Oct 2012.
The Silence of the Sea has generally received very positive reviews.
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