Le Silence de la Mer

French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville is famous for crime movie classics such as Bob le Flambeur, Le Samourai, and Le Cercle Rouge, but his debut feature was a labor of love based on a novella that is considered an almost sacred text within the French Resistance. Primarily set in a small farmhouse—the home of a middle-aged man (Jean-Marie Robain) and his niece (Nicole Stéphane)—where a polite, cultured German officer (Howard Vernon) has been billeted, Le Silence de la Mer has only one character who speaks on camera (the rest is voiceover narration). The French hosts offer their own resistance by refusing to even acknowledge the German, which he treats as an invitation to indulge in monologues on art and culture (he was a composer in civilian life) and his dream that French influence will civilize the brutal culture of Nazi Germany. Melville called the film—a maverick self-financed project made on a tiny budget—"anti-cinematic," and he creatively uses glances and gestures to present grand drama in a minimalist format. It's also a quiet, understated piece about people who might have been friends in a different life. Made in 1949—only years after the liberation, with the occupation still a fresh wound to the French soul—Melville (who was active in the French Resistance himself) courageously made a film with a German officer as a tragic hero. Extras include Melville's 1946 debut short 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown, behind-the-scenes documentaries, interviews, and a booklet. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)