Although writer/director Jean-Pierre Melville was a very famous and gifted filmmaker, when he made "Le Silence de la Mer" he was an unknown with only one film, a short, to his credit. Read up on the IMDB page on how Melville made the film without first obtaining the author's permission....and how he overcame that. Also read about how the film was done on the cheap--without sets and using natural light. The natural light, actually, was a good thing...and the cameraperson made the most of this.

The story is set during WWII during the Nazi occupation of France. A homeowner is informed that a German officer will be living with them...and whether or not the family approved seemed irrelevant. Because of this, the Frenchman and his niece silently agree to say nothing to their 'guest' nor to acknowledge him in any way. As for the officer, he eventually responds by donning his civilian clothes and talking to the family each night...during which, again, they do not acknowledge him. He talks about many things, but often about his admiration for the French and their culture. This pattern continues for months...and what eventually occurs is for you to learn for yourself.

This is a well made film, though I should warn you that it's also a bit slow...and this is necessitated by the plot. There really is no way to make this a fast-paced and stirring film, so I do not blame Melville for this...after all, it IS the novel on which it was based. A most unique film...and one Melvillephiles should see...though not an easy film to watch due to its slowness and minimal dialog.

By the way, despite his white hair, the Uncle was played by Jean-Marie Robain--a man in his 30s. As for the German, he was actually played by a Swiss actor...which makes sense as they needed a man fluent in both German and French.

In a small town in occupied France in 1941, the German officer, Werner Von Ebrennac (Howard Vernon) is billeted in the house of the uncle and his niece. The uncle and niece refuse to speak to him, but each evening the officer warms himself by the fire and talks of his country, his music, and his idealistic views of the relationship between France and Germany.

I am not terribly familiar with the work of Melville. More or less, beyond "Le Samourai", I know practically nothing about the man and his work. And, after seeing this, I will have to say "Samourai" is the better film, though this is not without its merits and quite decent for its humble origins.

Of particular interest to me was the casting of Howard Vernon, who was only known to me from the films of Jess Franco. Seeing him in something else, especially something so serious, makes me see he is a better actor than the films he is associated with. What went wrong, Howard?

Here's the set-up: an uncle and his niece (the latter Nicole Stephane, who would appear as the female lead in Melville's follow-up Les Enfants Terribles) are living in a small town in France and it's the early part of the war in 1941. A German officer is wounded and has to spend some time to heal (not serious enough for a hospital it would seem, but not strong enough to fight yet),and immediately things are tense as the French citizens refuse to say a word or even look up - their own form of silence as protest - but he doesn't mind.

Officer Werner von Ebrancc in fact will talk to them or, perhaps, in a way, to himself without any regard. For the most part, with maybe just one or two minor exceptions, we only hear the uncle in voice-over. Lots and lots of voice-over, narrating about things that we see on screen and what the officer's silence holds over moments, or when he does things like play the harmonium - a melody that his niece hasn't played in years. So much significance in six months or so of this man just *being* there. What will they do? Will communication finally happen vocally, or with physical gestures and things like hands?

I imagine it'll be the same for those who come to La Silence de la Mer that admirers (does one say fans perhaps) of Jean-Pierre Melville's other films, primarily his 60's crime thrillers or the other WW2 resistance epic Army of Shadows: this does not really seem very much like those later movies. In 'Silence', it's got wall-to-wall musical score for one thing by Edgar Bischoff; not a bad score by any means, but it is strange and sometimes the music is accompanying one of the many monologues delivered by the German soldier Werner, which is in contrast to many of Melville's films which lack music in favor of silence. And there is a great deal of narration from the French uncle (just credited as 'L'Oncle' played Robain) which is also in contrast with Melville's style. So it was a little jarring to come to his first film after seeing so many - this doesn't make it a bad thing, just different and unexpected.

The context always matters of course: this was made very soon after the end of the second world war, which Melville fought in and was part of the French resistance. The film's adapted from a book, which is pretty clear by not only the framing (like a Cocteau film of Beauty and the Beast, which gets checked here in reference by the way by Werner, it opens and ends with a book on screen),and it was a book that was kind of an underground release. Melville even adapted it without the rights, something that would almost make it a "fan-film" today, though Vecors liked it enough to let it see release following approval from a 'jury' (see the trivia). But the point is that the film must have been something important to see in France at the time, part of France looking back at what had happened to them, what they allowed, and of course the fervent, dastardly German/Nazi mind-set, and take some steps to move forward.

The narration may be too much at times (it's part of Melville's 'anti-cinematic' aesthetic in relation to adapting a book to the tee),and at first I was bothered by it. It made the film seem old and dated. But as the film went on and I got more into Vernon's performance, it seemed to make more sense about the tension and how, step by step, incrementally, there's a connection made between these very disparate characters. I also liked the last half hour where we see Werner outside of the house and at German HQ or talking with fellow officers and the contrast of his own awakening to culture and French artistic expression with the dogmatic nature of Nazism. It's even a braze and courageously made movie ultimately for how it posits the French civilians like these two (not so much characters but apt props for the narrative) and Werner, who is fleshed out and conflicted and kind of a tragic figure. It's a film the more I think about it I like more, even as it's not as impressive as Melville's later crime films. For what he had to work with (clearly a low budget, mostly shot in the house),Melville gets a lot out of his imagery and slow-build up.