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6.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Sacrifice d'honneur remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for 1930s French melodrama. If you want something fast, skip it. If you like watching people try to keep a stiff upper lip while their entire personal life falls apart, you’ll probably be into it. My guess is most modern viewers will find the pacing a bit of a slog, but there's a certain charm to the melodrama that feels very specific to the era.
The whole premise feels like it was ripped from a stage play. You have the Captain, his wife, and the First Officer stuck together on a ship. Talk about an awkward commute.
It’s not as polished as something like Hoffmanns Erzählungen, but it has that grainy, lived-in feel that I usually dig. The dialogue hits pretty hard, even if it feels a bit theatrical by today’s standards.
The best parts are when nobody is actually talking about the cheating. It’s all in the looks. The Captain is trying to run a battleship, and the First Officer is trying not to look at the wife. It’s a pressure cooker, basically.
There’s this one scene where they are just standing on the deck. The silence is so loud you could hear a pin drop. It’s way more effective than any shouting match.
The movie reminds me a bit of the emotional weight in Alma de sacrificio, though they are obviously very different films. It’s all about sacrifice, right? The title doesn't lie.
The court-martial stuff at the end felt like it took forever. I found myself checking my phone, which is usually a bad sign, but the final payoff actually landed okay. 🌊
It isn't a masterpiece. It's just a solid, moody drama that takes itself seriously. Sometimes that's all you really need, right? It doesn't try to be anything other than a story about three people caught in a bad spot. I can respect that.