Movie · 1931 · Romance, Drama, Adventure · 1h 26m · NR · English
Curator score: 8.0/10 (17.8K ratings)
Overview
On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.0/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.88/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
F. W. Murnau
Production
Murnau-Flaherty Productions, Paramount Pictures
Cast
Matahi, Anne Chevalier, Bill Bambridge, Hitu, Jules
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually ravishing, emotionally severe silent-era romance that feels both primitive and modern. Murnau turns a simple forbidden-love premise into a tragic study of desire, ritual, and social control, with extraordinary use of bodies, landscape, and movement.
Best for
silent cinema fans
viewers who love poetic visual storytelling
admirers of tragic romance
people interested in early ethnographic-adjacent adventure films
fans of Murnau and expressionist-era craft
Skip if
you need fast-paced dialogue-driven storytelling
you are sensitive to colonial-era exoticism and romanticized depictions of indigenous culture
you prefer psychologically explicit character writing
you want a light or uplifting romance
Overview
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas is one of those late silent films that feels startlingly alive. Murnau strips the drama down to gesture, composition, and rhythm, letting the island setting become both paradise and trap. The result is a romance that starts in sunlight and ends in dread, with the sea, the bodies, and the rituals all carrying the weight of fate.
Worth noting
What lingers most is the film’s physical intelligence: rowing, dancing, swimming, running, and waiting are all staged with a precision that makes the world feel inhabited rather than illustrated. Even when the story leans into mythic simplicity, the filmmaking keeps it grounded in movement and texture. It is elegant, severe, and deeply cinematic.
Bottom line
That said, its “South Seas” framing is inseparable from the period’s exoticism, and modern viewers may find the cultural perspective troubling. But as a work of visual storytelling and tragic atmosphere, it remains remarkable. It is both a farewell to silent cinema and a statement of how much cinema can do without words.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Neil Bahadur (5★) · 296 likes
Whereupon Murnau ceases speaking the language of dreams, & masters the language of cinema for us all.......another one of these final works where by some mysterious series of coincidences the director strips down their formal sensibilities to the most essential parts. No lighting, shadows of grass yes - but it is mostly bodies in composition. Bodies always posing, expressing.
At the same time, it is Murnau's most fatalistic work - therefore his most philosophical. Aquarium meets aquarium - like this film… more
SilentDawn (5★) · 162 likes
93/100
Love across boundaries; a story of serene nature shifting into nebulous societal necessities. What was once calm, composed, lush turns greedy and bound to modern pleasures. That such an universal romance tale becomes complex, even grandiose in its details is a result of Murnau's static beauty; never sacrificing clarity but depicting every facet with a more defined eye. Tabu could've felt weightless because of its classical roots, but instead it thrives. From the opening moments to the final brushstroke,… more
Bruno Andrade (5★) · 154 likes
Defina um filme moderno:
um filme mudo de 1931 que, com exceção de alguns efeitos sonoros e alguns planos de ligação (cartas e comunicados que resumem algumas passagens da trama, e que por isso mesmo são brilhantemente elípticos, cf. anos depois Rivette e Oliveira fazendo o mesmo), é construído quase que integralmente como um filme sonoro, alcançando um grau de sofisticação plástica e rítmica que anuncia tanto o realismo do pós-guerra quanto o filme de aventuras marítimas dos cinemas americano… more
upik (4★) · 139 likes
ngl this movie impressed me so much. for a film from the 30s, it still hits even today. even tho it’s black and white, you can still feel how beautiful the island is. and damn i felt so bad for Matahi at the end. 😭😔
Lara Pop (4★) · 122 likes
Paradise.
The gentle rocking of waves. A seismic ripping that washes its crystalline rhythm over the sand. Love and nature dance into each other's embrace on the island of the two lovers' laughter. They are like Adam and Eve. They are surrounded by others but their true Eden is a lone island, united in each other's smiles. Her smile, his smile – they swim in unison in the waters of purity. But – a waterfall approaches, its mouth gaping below,… more