Le Silence de la Mer (1949)

 Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Silence de la Mer"

It has been explained to me that Jean-Pierre Melville has the same philosophy about cinema that the New Wave directors did. Perhaps this is why he is called the spiritual father of the French New Wave movement. He considered cinema to be 'done,' in a sense. There was nothing left to do in the realm of cinema that hadn't already been done before. The only thing left was to go inward and examine the subconscious through the art of cinema. Sure, stories needed narrative and plot, along with traditional means to capture this narrative. However, Melville took a very minimalist approach to this. This minimalism is how he was able to hit a more existential tone with his work. With his debut feature film, 1949's "Le Silence de la Mer," he began his filmmaking career by creating a minimalist piece that dove into the soul of a Nazi officer. 

Based on the 1942 book by the same name written by Jean Bruller, "Le Silence de la Mer" is set during the second World War in occupied France. Werner von Ebrennac, a German lieutenant with a limp, is billeted in a house in a small village with a retired man and his adult niece. As an act of resistance against the Nazi, the man and the niece remain silent. Despite their quiet resistance, Ebrennac politely engages in conversation with them, revealing to them his naïve optimism of his own ideology, the war itself, and the unification of France and Germany. He is a lover of French literature and expounds his contemplations to the two of them night after night, receiving no response all the way. However, upon receiving news of the full extent of the holocaust his party is involved in, he loses his faith and confesses his despair to the couple. He tells them he is leaving to go back to the front, where he will die. To pay respect for his disillusionment of his own ideology and for the oppression of the French people, he is met with a faint "adieu" upon his exit and a written quote: "It is a fine thing when a soldier disobeys a criminal order."

The before-mentioned minimalism that Melville employs with this film is all-encompassing, right down to the complete silence by two of the main characters. However, this aspect of the film was controversial at the time of the film's release. There were many who believed that the two French characters remained compliant with the Nazis by not resisting or fighting back in any sort of tangible way. However, there is a large portion of the French population who, during the occupation, could not actively resist due to repercussions of violence against themselves and their families. There had to be other mechanisms for resistance. In the case of this novel and film, it was through the power of silence. As you watch the film, the silence in itself starts to become powerful. Through this means, the viewer begins to see the couple as abstractions that represent France itself and her people. 

On top of this minimalism found within the narrative of the story, Melville employs a simplistic and yet entirely unique style of filmmaking. Melville continues to invent mechanisms to tell this story by presenting it through a more tactless lens. For example, when we are first shown the Nazi lieutenant, Melville films him with a shining beam of light on his face surrounded by darkness outside of the lighted image of his face. It completely looks like a German expressionist visualization. When we are shown the adult niece, we are always shown the profile of her face, as if she embodied the abstraction of France itself, like on a coin. There are also certain scenes of Ebrennac entirely filmed in darkness. Melville continues to employ new and inventive ways to communicate a subjective abstraction in his images. 

To accomplish making this film was no small feat for Melville. He had not been a prior filmmaker before its production. His knowledge of cinema and filmmaking all stemmed from his obsession with the medium and its practice. This is also true for the French New Wave artists, which is probably why they gravitated towards Melville so much. He became a filmmaker simply by watching and studying film itself. Because of this, no one wanted to take a chance of an inexperienced auteur. Instead, Melville was able to get the cheap, bare essentials he needed, filmed in the exact house of the novel's author, and used a minimal cast. This also adds to the minimalism of the entire piece as a whole.

Overall, the film is a triumph. There are times at the end where it gets very propaganda. And nobody can really ever say anything against anti-Nazi propaganda, so its completely inoffensive. However, the film is able to tell a minimalist, creatively empowered story at a time when such discussions and subject matter where still fresh in the minds of every French person.