The Silence Of The Sea

by Paul Vercors, adapted by Peter Cheeseman.

Occupied France in the Second World War. A German soldier is billeted with a French family, a middle-aged man and his young niece. The German soldier is a great lover of France and French culture and believes in the cause.

The French family show their opposition to him by refusing to speak to him. They are the 'silence' of the title. The soldier then goes to Paris, where he sees the reality of the Nazi occupation. He returns to them, disillusioned and distraught.