His father, his aunt, the priest Mulligan, his beloved Anna and a sailor from the Pequod who had worked with the famous Captain Ahab paint the portrait of this exceptional sailor who reigned over the seas as a formidable sailor.

​

When Ahab’s mother dies in childbirth, the infant’s gruff father places his son in the care of his pious aunt. It is Rose who sparks the imagination of the young boy by teaching him to read the Bible, though when Ahab is reclaimed by his father a decade later the growing boy strives to become a hunter like his old man. Later, after Ahab warms to his father’s lover Louise, the old man dies and the boy is sent back to his God-fearing aunt. Rejecting Rose and her abusive husband Henry’s unforginv brand of discipline and infuriated that his aunt confiscated the locket given to him by Louise, young Ahab boldly stages his own kidnapping as an ingenious escape plan.

​

​

"The rare pearl of Locarno Festival" (Le Monde)

"Playful yet provocative, a rewarding attempt to cast fresh light on one of literature’s greatest leviathans" (Time Out)

"Highly stylized period pic has an intimate, rough-hewn feel" (Variety)

​

Selected in Official Competition in Locarno 2007

​

Awarded in Locarno with the Silver Leopard for Best Director and the FIPRESCI award

​

​