A 1931 American silent docufiction film directed by F. W. Murnau in collaboration with Robert J. Flaherty, set among Polynesians in the Pacific and shot on location in Bora Bora.
Production
Paramount Pictures released Tabu in March 1931, eight days after F. W. Murnau died in a car accident. Murnau and Robert J. Flaherty conceived the project as a collaboration between the two filmmakers, but creative disagreements led Flaherty to leave during production, and Murnau completed the film.
Story
On the island of Bora Bora, the young fisherman Matahi falls in love with Reri, who is chosen as a sacred maiden whom no man may touch on pain of death. The pair flees to a French-colonial pearl island, where Matahi works as a diver while the kahuna Hitu hunts for them across the Pacific.
Reception
Tabu won the 1932 Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Floyd Crosby and is regarded as one of the final masterworks of the silent era. The film’s lyrical depiction of the South Pacific has been studied as both a continuation of Flaherty’s documentary tradition and a culmination of Murnau’s lyrical visual style.
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