I would put this up there with Paths of Glory as being the best anti-war film ever made. Le Silence De La Mer is an extremely patient and thoughtful film that while unassuming, still packs a powerful punch. All the monologues are fascinating to watch/listen to/soak in. Just as fascinating is the reactions of the uncle and the niece as they just sit and listen to the monologues. One complex and important film that is easily accessible because of its relatively simple execution. Seek it out.

Jean-Pierre Melville's debut is a tremendous film. A Nazi officer is assigned to live in a French village house with an old man and his niece. Every day he returns to the house and makes small talk to them before going to bed. But the man and niece never respond as protest. The film does the impossible in making you feel sorry for a Nazi as the more he talks the more he reveals himself to be a good man and the more the French people's silence seems uncalled for and just plain rude. It's essentially a three-person play and it's the type of film where the greatest of revelations are conveyed by the smallest of gestures, and all three actors perform brilliantly. An excellent companion piece to Balance of Terror: "I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend."

Melville's first film is an interesting one. On the surface, it's the most simple, but beneath that is it absolutely the most complex and divisive film of his (and probably of that decade). It's not exactly "entertaining", but you really start to wonder what Melville's end goal is and where the main characters are going in the overall arc. It's a slow burn for sure, but stay with it. There's a payoff.

The horror of realizing your group's toxic core ideology, and the fear of denouncing it. Humanizing, though not excusing, cowardice.

Not seen in so long, another birthday present. Wonderfully energetic debut from one of my top 5 favourite filmmakers of all time

Possible this would go up on a second viewing. Was dog-tired when I watched it and wasn't expecting it to be so thin in superficial incident, given that most of the Melville films I've seen are more suspense-driven, heist-y type things and I went in rasa. That said, it was a clever, original conceit I hadn't seen before (which is rare for a WWII movie), and by the time I got to the end it genuinely earned its emotional pull.

Extraordinary debut from Melville. Suffers from overt and ubiquitous narration, but I'm engaged throughout its entirety. I found it very intense, much due to the clock and the setting. Beautiful, unconventional images convey both the exterior and the interior life of the characters.

I would put this up there with Paths of Glory as being the best anti-war film ever made. Le Silence De La Mer is an extremely patient and thoughtful film that while unassuming, still packs a powerful punch. All the monologues are fascinating to watch/listen to/soak in. Just as fascinating is the reactions of the uncle and the niece as they just sit and listen to the monologues. One complex and important film that is easily accessible because of its relatively simple execution. Seek it out.

The excellent "Le Silence de la Mer" was Jean-Pierre Melville's feature length debut. It seems appropriate that this was Melville's first film considering he was a French resistance fighter during the occupation of France by the Germans. The film ends in the only way it could have. Inevitable.