The Man of the Sea

Nolff is a hard tempered Breton fisherman. He is overjoyed when his wife gives birth to a boy, whom they name Michel. All Nolff wants is to make his son a fisherman like himself. But when Michel grows up he goes entirely off that road. He spends his days in taverns and is good for nothing. The distance between father and son keeps widening. The film sets the labour of the sea against a father’s expectation. It is one of the works of French silent cinema of 1920 remembered for its formal experiment. Jaque Catelain and Roger Karl take the leads, with Charles Boyer also in the cast. Marcel L’Herbier’s eighty six minute French film was completed in 1920.