Le Silence de la mer Melville's debut film is an adaptation of the novella of the same title, clandestinely written in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France.. Melville's cinematic adaptation tells the story of a German officer, Werner von Ebrennac, who is billeted to the house of an elderly manand his niece in occupied France. One of the most important French films to deal with World War II, and a landmark in Melville's distinguished oeuvre, this film is a lyrical, timeless depiction of the experiences and struggles of occupation and resistance