Hanno Pöschl can be seen here as the main character, and as such he, who usually plays the bad guy or the grumpy neighbour, is somebody with whom we feel sympathy. He does his job quite well because he doesn't need to open his mouth very often.
Pöschl plays Dr. Ascher, a doctor who leaves his French wife to live in the deserted loneliness of the countryside because of bad malpractice he has committed and cannot forgive himself. Death and madness seem to haunt him, people die and foxes are shot because of rabies.
One of Xaver Schwarzenberger's first movies, photographed in black and white, Der Stille Ozean is the adaptation of a novel by Gerhard Roth. The movie doesn't get across quite clearly what the point of the novel is but it is atmospheric and skilfully filmed without making much fuss. A quiet, melancholic piece of work.
