Le Silence de la mer
Jean-Pierre Melville
An old man lives alone with his niece under the Occupation. Werner von Ebrennac, a German officer, bursts into their lives one day when he takes up residence in a room requisitioned in their house. The following days, on the pretext that he wants to get warm by the fire, Werner visits his silent hosts every evening. The officer talks about music, literature and politics, and explains his view of Franco-German collaboration.
With : Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, Jean-Marie Robain, Ami Aroe, Denis Sadier
Screenplay : Jean-Pierre Melville (d'après le roman du même titre de Vercors)
Image : Henri Decaë
Editing : Jean-Pierre Melville
Music : Edgar Bischoff
Screenplay : Jean-Pierre Melville (d'après le roman du même titre de Vercors)
Image : Henri Decaë
Editing : Jean-Pierre Melville
Music : Edgar Bischoff
Production : OGC
Distribution: Gaumont
Distribution: Gaumont
Jean-Pierre Grumbach took the name of Melville in the throes of the Resistance "out of pure admiration and the desire to identify with an author, a creator who touched me more than any other". To make his first feature, the former resistant fighter decided to take on Vercors' novel, which was published by an underground press. "I had already turned down several proposals, not that I was opposed to one of my works being adapted for the cinema, but Le Silence de la mer, which was distributed underground by people risking their lives, did not just belong to the author alone, and these friends from the underground abhorred the idea of it being brought to the screen, at least so soon after the dramatic events. Therefore I refused to give Jean-Pierre Melville permission. So he said to me ‘You can stop me showing the film based on your work, but you can't stop me from shooting it. I'll show it to you and your friends from the Resistance, and it will be so faithful that you won't be able to be refuse me.'" (Vercors)