Calm at Sea

Calm at Sea (La mer à l'aube) is a 2011 German / French drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff. The film depicts the events leading to the 1941 execution of a group of French communists, including the 17-year-old Guy Môquet, as retaliation for the assassination of a German officer by the French resistance.

Cast

 * Léo-Paul Salmain as Guy Môquet
 * Marc Barbé as Jean-Pierre Timbaud
 * Ulrich Matthes as Ernst Jünger
 * Jean-Marc Roulot as Lucien Touya
 * Sébastien Accart as Bernard Lecornu
 * Martin Loizillon as Claude Lalet
 * Jacob Matschenz as Soldat Otto

Reception
The sea in the morning was mostly positively received. Jörg Schöning sums it up in Der Spiegel: “Schlöndorff's film, which is not particularly interested in the more recent questions of humanity, thankfully concentrates on the concrete. The sea in the morning is the stroke of luck of a documentary game: the people, their actions and words are historically documented, the consequences of their actions are highly dramatic - and still trigger considerable emotions today.”

Filmgazette editor Wolfgang Nierlins judged: "Schlöndorff's film shows the fateful course of events, relentlessly aggravated by human arbitrariness and blind coincidence as a tragic event." He understands The Sea in the Morning as “a differentiated plea for humanity” and awards 8 out of 10 possible stars.