I am writing about Love at Sea because it has made me feel as fresh, as they say, as a daisy. A rare feeling for middle age.
This is the story of Daniel and Geneviève, a story of young love, told often at distance, as Daniel is in the Navy. Daniel is subject to a certain trauma, a certain incident in Algeria, an certain understanding of being part of a colonial machine. This trauma is painted in very delicately, as if by a watercolourist (trauma is so commonplace that we almost don't notice it, much preferable a world of love). The result is a difficulty in finding a place in the world and in giving himself over to love. For Geneviève, a few years younger, this love will be her first trauma. We could describe her as a Parisienne secretary, but her life is better described as one of kindness, curiosity and esoteric ritual (Allô-pera, Allô-pital, Allô-bélisque).
Guy Gilles appears in the film as a sailor, a handsome sensitive chap, as such an initiate into the rites of love. He fills me with a kindhearted jealousy (yellow not green!).
The movie is full of his successes in capturing everyday live, often miraculously... steam cuddling the railings above a station, glistening neon in the puddles of Brest. The characters also approach the world with honesty, curiosity and tenderness, in the end it is important to do justice to oneself. No surprise that the actors use their own Christian names in the movie.
