Director Jacques Rivette just passed away back in January. There's more interest lately in his 12-hour opus Out 1, but if you'll settle for just 2.5 hours, this unique early New Wave feature will take you inside Rivette's world of artists, students, and refugees from political persecution, all in conflict in a sunny Paris of 1958. It's just as revolutionary as an early Godard or Truffaut, but in a style all Rivette's own. Paris Belongs to Us Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 802 1961 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 141 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Paris nous appartient / Street Date March 8, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Betty Schneider, François Maistre, Giani Esposito, Françoise Prévost, Daniel Crohem, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Marie Robain, Jean Martin. Cinematography Charles L. Bitsch Film Editor Denise de Casablanca Original Music Philippe Arthuys Written by Jacques Rivette, Jean Grualt Produced by Claude Chabrol, Roland Nonin Directed by Jacques Rivette
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The French New...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The French New...
- 3/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Its time to take a look at where a master began and in this case its Jean Pierre Melville and his debut Le Silence de la mer. Enjoy!
From Masters of Cinema:
Le Silence de la mer – Jean-Pierre Melville’s debut film – is an adaptation of the novella of the same title by celebrated French Resistance author Vercors (the pen name of Jean Bruller). Clandestinely written in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France and furtively distributed, it captured the spirit of the moment, and quickly became a staple of the Resistance. Melville’s cinematic adaptation – partly shot in Vercors’ own house – tells the story of a German officer, Werner von Ebrennac (Howard Vernon), who is billeted to the house of an elderly man (Jean-Marie Robain) and his niece (Nicole Stéphane) in occupied France.
One of the most important French films to deal with World War II, and a landmark in Melville’s distinguished œuvre,...
From Masters of Cinema:
Le Silence de la mer – Jean-Pierre Melville’s debut film – is an adaptation of the novella of the same title by celebrated French Resistance author Vercors (the pen name of Jean Bruller). Clandestinely written in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France and furtively distributed, it captured the spirit of the moment, and quickly became a staple of the Resistance. Melville’s cinematic adaptation – partly shot in Vercors’ own house – tells the story of a German officer, Werner von Ebrennac (Howard Vernon), who is billeted to the house of an elderly man (Jean-Marie Robain) and his niece (Nicole Stéphane) in occupied France.
One of the most important French films to deal with World War II, and a landmark in Melville’s distinguished œuvre,...
- 7/15/2015
- by Tom Jennings
- CriterionCast
Available for the first time in the Us on Blu-ray and DVD is Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterful directorial debut, 1949’s Le Silence de la Mer (The Silence of the Sea). Based on a famous underground novel published secretly in 1942 by author Jean Bruller, written under the pseudonym Vercours, the exceptional debut precedes the brooding themes that would grace Melville’s later noir and gangster films, as well as the continuation of period pieces concerning Nazi occupied France. Understated and elegant, it’s an incredibly haunting first title from the self-made auteur, an actual member of the French resistance (he adopted his surname for his love of author Herman Melville and it remained his pseudonym after the war).
Opening with a statement that the film has ‘no pretensions’ as concerns the relationship with France and Germany (whose people were complicit with the Nazi’s rise to power), we hear the omniscient narration of an elder Frenchman,...
Opening with a statement that the film has ‘no pretensions’ as concerns the relationship with France and Germany (whose people were complicit with the Nazi’s rise to power), we hear the omniscient narration of an elder Frenchman,...
- 4/28/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Le Silence de la Mer
Written and Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, and Jean-Marie Robain
France, 88 min – 1949
“I have great respect for those who love their country.”
Based on the 1942 novel by Vercors, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Silence de la Mer (The Silence of the Sea) draws an intriguing picture of German-French relations during The Occupation. It follows six months in the repetitive life of an uncle, his niece, and Werner von Ebrennac, the Nazi soldier boarding with them. Forced to endure the presence of the enemy, the uncle and niece take a vow of silence. They continue living their lives, as if Werner isn’t there. Slowly, their view of Werner changes. He becomes more human in their eyes, but the question is whether such a view can last.
Much has been made of the symbolism of silence in this film. It stands for the...
Written and Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, and Jean-Marie Robain
France, 88 min – 1949
“I have great respect for those who love their country.”
Based on the 1942 novel by Vercors, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Silence de la Mer (The Silence of the Sea) draws an intriguing picture of German-French relations during The Occupation. It follows six months in the repetitive life of an uncle, his niece, and Werner von Ebrennac, the Nazi soldier boarding with them. Forced to endure the presence of the enemy, the uncle and niece take a vow of silence. They continue living their lives, as if Werner isn’t there. Slowly, their view of Werner changes. He becomes more human in their eyes, but the question is whether such a view can last.
Much has been made of the symbolism of silence in this film. It stands for the...
- 6/2/2014
- by Karen Bacellar
- SoundOnSight
As part of the war movie genre, the heroic exploits of the Resistance have been a popular form of cinematic entertainment since the end of World War Two. The bane of the invading German forces, the Resistance always represented the ordinary man picking up arms against the dreaded Hun to defend their country. Whether it was booby-trapping panzers or smuggling escaped POWs and Jewish refugees to safety, many films emphasized their heroism to great effect. Exploits of the Greek, Norwegian and French Resistance have been put to good use in The Guns of Navarone (1961), 633 Squadron (1964) and The Night of the Generals (1967).
As great as these films were, the exploits of the Resistance has been pretty much romanticized and even parodied (for those who remember ‘Allo ‘Allo!). The reality was very different. They were ruthless killers who took no prisoners and treated those who had in any way collaborated with the enemy with cold-blooded hostility.
As great as these films were, the exploits of the Resistance has been pretty much romanticized and even parodied (for those who remember ‘Allo ‘Allo!). The reality was very different. They were ruthless killers who took no prisoners and treated those who had in any way collaborated with the enemy with cold-blooded hostility.
- 12/13/2011
- Shadowlocked
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