The Art of Silence

Marcel Marceau's Secret

As the tragi-comic clown “Bip”, the famous pantomime Marcel Marceau still inspires people all over the world today. Iconic: the white striped shirt, the face painted white and the battered silk hat with the red flower. However, the tragic background of his art remained hidden for a long time. His Jewish father was murdered in Auschwitz, whereupon Marceau joined the Resistance. With his cousin Georges Loinger, he smuggled Jewish children across the border into Switzerland. Along with gestures and mimes, he taught them not to speak in dangerous situations. Silence promised survival. Influenced by silent film greats like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, he created a unique art form from it after the war, which his heirs continue to this day.

With his facial expressions and just a few gestures, he expressed more hope, joy or pain than many a Greek drama. As the grand master of pantomime, Marcel Marceau portrayed man's clumsiness and conveyed the unspeakable through "Screams of Silence". In his documentary, director Maurizius Staerkle Drux traces the legacy of this artist of the century and interweaves exclusive archive material with a personal, contemporary perspective.

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