Mor vran

Mor-vran starts with a shot of the sea, followed by one of the map of the Breton coastline. Next, we see images of the various islands off the coast: harbours, a mill, sheep, a lighthouse, cemeteries. The women are dressed in black. In the port of Brest there is a great hustle and bustle. A sailor pays a visit to the fair and wins a chain. He returns to the island of Sein by boat. As the result of a storm he will never get there. After a few weeks, his body, with the chain, washes ashore. On Sein, people start repairing the damage caused by the storm. A young couple talks about the future, about buying a house and a boat. A widow visits a graveyard. With Mor-vran, Jean Epstein continued his series of films about the Breton coast. This documentary was obviously conceived as a silent movie: inserted titles explain the action, while music accentuates the atmosphere. Epstein creates a gloomy atmosphere by using pregnant images: the sea leaves serious scars on the islands off the Breton coast. Nevertheless, life goes on. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)