He went outside the film industry in order to make the film and didnt even have. An american in paris, discusses melville s remarkable film debut. It was melville s first feature film, and was based on the. A hero of the french new wave for his independence from the mainstream french film industry, jeanpierre melville. The 1080p24hz highdefinition presentation is presented in the film s original aspect ratio of about 1. Jeanpierre melville began his superb feature filmmaking career with this powerful. Le samourai, perhaps his most famous policier, features a protagonist. I begin with all my intellectual, historical, and social defenses raised against the argument that i must see its protagonist, a nazi officer, as a flawed. Also this moc dvd has an excellent transfer, and the extras are really interesting with jeanette vincendeau introducing melville as a film maker.
The silence of the sea is a 1949 film by jeanpierre melville. Jeanpierre melvilles debut is a civilised and claustrophobic masterpiece, writes philip french. Melville called it an anticinematic film, and he creates the. The seeds of the french new wave were sown here, and the harvest would be bountiful indeed. Against the will of its elderly male and his adult niece residents, the nazis commandeer a house for one of their officers, lt. However, that writerdirector was the great jeanpierre melvillewhod go on to make such classics as bob le flambeur, le samourai, and army of shadowsand he knew exactly what he was doing. Vercors donne son aval pour sa distribution mais il faut. Also this moc dvd has an excellent transfer, and the extras are really interesting with jeanette vincendeau introducing melville as a film. Jeanpierre melvilles cinema of resistance the new yorker. Two years later, he had his own studios built, on a dour paris street, with two sound stages. The film is very well made, actually one of melvilles better films. This film explores how silence operated as a form of resistance in occupied.
The basis of the film was a 1942 novel published clandestinely during the german occupation in france by vercors. The future famous director guarantees to submit the film as soon as it was finished to a jury of resistant selected by. The film had long been unseen after it was suppressed in france in 1969. The house where he now stays is inhabited by young jeanne, who makes a living by giving piano lessons, and by her grandfather. Most of the film is confined to the living room of a bourgeois french family.
The transfer comes from a highdefinition scan of a 35mm finegrain. Melville, of course, was heavily involved in the french resistance. A decade before the nouvelle vague, melville laid the groundwork for the movement with an independent. Melville attempted to get the rights to the film from vercors and was promptly refused. Sutnja mora je francuski crnobijeli film snimljen 1949.
With julie delarme, michel galabru, thomas jouannet, marie bunel. We also go beyond the immediate historical circumstances, contemplating not only the fate of france and the crimes of nazism but also the most intimate hesitations and resignations of the heart. Jeanpierre melvilles the silence of the sea returns wsj. An american in paris, discusses melvilles remarkable film debut. A second englishlanguage tv adaptation was broadcast by the bbc in 1981, and a stage version by john crowther was performed by the heywood society in the theatre at peterhouse, cambridge in 1985, with the presumably ironic title. It was melvilles first feature film, and was based on the 1942 book of the same name by jean bruller. Army of shadows yet remains a singularly eerie masterwork in its own right.
It was melvilles first feature film, and was based on the. In an interview with the film historian rui nogueira, melville recalled. The exact extent of his involvement is not quite known, but the loud whispers combined with his military records paint a dedicated and daring figure of the movement. With howard vernon, nicole stephane, jeanmarie robain, ami aaroe. The film is very well made, actually one of melville s better films. Feb 04, 2012 a hero of the french new wave for his independence from the mainstream french film industry, jeanpierre melville. It was melvilles first feature film, and was based on the 1942 book of the same name by jean bruller published clandestinely under the pen name vercors.