Written by Andreas Babiolakis

This review is a part of the Palme d’Or Project: a review of every single Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival. The Silent World won the second Palme d’Or at the 1956 festival.

The film was selected by the following jury.
Jury President: Maurice Lehmann.
Jury: Arletty, Louise de Vilmorin, Jacques-Pierre Frogerais, Henri Jeanson, Domenico Meccoli, Otto Preminger, James Quinn, Roger Regent, Maria Romero, Sergei Vasilyev.

You don’t typically find documentary films winning top prizes at awards shows or festival ceremonies, but that’s a big reason why I was quite excited to finally get around to The Silent World by auteur Louis Malle and aquatic aficionado extraordinaire Jacques Cousteau. On the other hand, I was a bit curious as to why you don’t really hear about this film nowadays in regards to either filmmaker or within the documentary genre overall, especially if it won a Palme d’Or (which is a coveted award that even many acclaimed, beloved filmmakers have never achieved). Both of my speculations were met, as I got a documentary that is both breathtakingly beautiful and quite dated at the same time. If anything, The Silent World almost feels like a technical exposé by Cousteau, especially in 2022. The film is meant to be a capturing of underwater research and a celebration of ocean life, but instead it feels quite… different.

For its time, I’m sure The Silent World may have felt a little more appropriate, but we’ve learned quite a lot about scientific practices and proper environmental etiquette since this documentary. It isn’t also atypical for filmmakers to want to dive as deeply into the oceans, seas, and lakes of the world to capture — via technology — what everyday people would otherwise never see. Look at James Cameron and his various experiments. The main difference is that The Silent World exposes some atrocities that wouldn’t fly today, and I barely feel like they were appropriate when the film was released. These acts include the tossing of dynamite into the waters (I don’t need to explain what comes next), and the injuring of a baby whale whose blood attracted a group of sharks (of whom were subsequently killed by Cousteau and his team). It is evident that Cousteau changed his methods of research via a more conservational approach, but you won’t find that here, and I’m not judging Cousteau on his overall character, but just what you will find in The Silent World alone: you indeed do find a silent world that is ultimately shaken up and turned into a barrage of cacophonies because of the meddling of humanity.

I don’t think Cannes was rewarding these questionable monstrosities, though. They were in love with the artistic flourishes and achievements of The Silent World, which still feel astounding to this day. The underwater photography is gorgeous, and even the basic camerawork feels far advanced beyond the ‘50s. In a documentary that is meant to transport you, The Silent World is able to pull this off effortlessly. In fact, I recommend the film on this element alone (which, frankly, is the majority of the reason why the film exists, so that’s assuring). Will modern day watchers learn much from this documentary? Not nowadays, no, but that’s no fault of an educational film that came out seventy years ago. All there is, really, is how fascinating the film looks, and with the amount of love that Cousteau and Malle put into making this project (yes, even amidst all of the senselessness). Even in 2022, The Silent World feels like a transfixed suspension of underwater life amidst ultramarine backdrops and a celebration of a universe that many of us still feel far removed from. If it feels this magical now, I can’t imagine what viewers back in 1956 were experiencing. I appreciate The Silent World more than I condone it because it is mostly masterful and only occasionally problematic. If you have serious issues with watching animal cruelty, I don’t think any amount of well-shot imagery will help, so I do warn you on that final note.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.