THE SILENCE OF THE SEA (director: Jean-Pierre Melville; cast: Howard Vernon (Werner Von Ebrennac), Nicole Stéphane(The Niece ), Jean-Marie Robain (The Uncle), Ami Aaröe (Werner's fiancee), 1947-Fr.)
A German Lieutenant, Werner Von Ebrennac (Vernon), is stationed in France during the time of the occupation and moves into the rural village cottage of an elderly, scholarly gentleman (Robain) and his niece (Nicole).They take a vow of silence toward the German intruder, sitting by their fireplace night after night when the officer returns from his duty, never saying a word to him during his entire stay with them. The officer never shows his animosity towards them as he uses their silence to fill in details about what he is thinking: his love of music, his life story, the girl he almost married, his love of French culture, and his belief that this occupation will be good for both countries, he says it will be like a marriage. His political naivety (in civilian life he is a musical composer) and underestimation of the evil government he represents, comes to light for him when he meets with close friends who are in Paris to negotiate the political arrangement between the two countries. It is then that he is shocked into realizing the barbaric designs that are intended by them to reduce the world to be submissive to a dominant Germany, the aim being to rip the soul out of each country it conquers. His more benevolent ideas, for the mutual countries to co-exist, are sneered at by his cultured German friends. Fed up with this, but resigned to the fact that there is nothing he could do about it, he volunteers for duty in the war zone of WW11.
The old man has left a copy of one Anatole France's books out for him to see just as he leaves for the front, the quote reads, "That it is a soldier's duty to disobey a criminal order given by his superiors." The niece also yields a muffled "adieux", that he might have heard, but does not respond to. That he leaves just at a time when they are questioning if their silence was the right thing to do, adds an argument that Melville might have been particularly interested in, by showing that all parties have to get rid of their hatreds before they can communicate with each other to extract any positive results.
This film was made so close to the end of the war, that it seems to be trying desperately and as intelligently as it can, to understand what went through the minds of those who participated in those infamous days of occupation and how it is possible to begin a healing process between such sworn enemies. In any case, it captured the climate in France during the war and the humiliations the French went through in the hands of their captors.
The Nazi holocaust and its diabolical war machine, were not broached in any of the officer's soliloquys with the couple held hostage in their own home. But how would he have treated them if they were Jews, remains unanswered. It is through this officer, that Melville symbolized the best of the German's intentions, someone whom there is some hope for if the world is to have a saner future.
What happened in that occupied house was a one way dialogue, with silence winning and losing. Winning in the sense, that there was no other way to conduct oneself with dignity when your enemy takes over your homeland, and the dignity of those who formed the Resistance Movement is undoubtedly honored by Melville for the rightful stand they took. Melville was in real-life a member of that Movement. Losing, because silence means you can't voice what is in your heart and mind, and by remaining silent it can be interpreted as a tacit acceptance of defeat and an unwillingness to call out for what is right and wrong.
In the end, it was the German officer who remained silent by going off to fight a futile war, a war which made no human sense from his side of the fence.Which means, when the chips are down, he is still a believer in the motto: My country, right or wrong.
Melville's film is stimulating and perplexing, yet it is simple in tone and in human spirit. It gave me chills to watch how natural it all seemed; firstly, because the protaganists were so real and the situation was so menacing; and, secondly, everything happens in such a matter of fact way, enhanced by being shot in the harsh and convincing tones of black-and-white, giving the film a certain disquiet with the sea in the background that is unsettling to behold.
REVIEWED ON 2/26/99 GRADE: A
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus's World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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