Drummer-Crab

Aboard a French supply ship in the North Atlantic, the Captain (Jean Rochefort) and the medical officer Pierre (Claude Rich) begin talking about a man they both knew, Lieutenant Willsdorff (Jacques Perrin), whom everyone called Le Crabe-Tambour. Pierre Schoendoerffer builds the film from their memories of this Alsatian, a naval career long out of date. The ship holds course through the cold water, and the Captain sits at the rail, still turning the name over.