Il canto del mare

During one of her wanders, a momentarily jobless opera singer discovers Beauduc, a village at the edge of the Camargue region. There, she meets a retired fisherman who invites her to stay in his modest shack. But the story, which could sound like the opening of a fairy tale, soon distances itself from the magical. With extreme delicacy, Claudia Neubern develops situations that avoid both the pitfalls of documentary triviality with its tedious descriptions, and the tired clichés of the fantastic. Although the song mentioned in the title does exist, it seems to remain suspended in the singer’s throat, almost hushed, like the ghosts that seem to thrive in the region. At the core is the discretion of people and places, but also that of a film that never betrays its hosts. (JPR)