A Man Escaped
Short description
Set in occupied France during the Second World War, A Man Escaped follows Fontaine, a young member of the Resistance who is arrested by the Gestapo and held in the Montluc prison in Lyon. After interrogation and a failed attempt to get away, he is returned to his cell and begins to plan more carefully, working out how to obtain or make the tools he would need to get out. When a new cellmate, Jost, is placed with him, Fontaine cannot be sure whether the man can be trusted or has been planted to watch him, and the two must feel their way toward each other while Fontaine continues preparing. Robert Bresson wrote and directed the film, drawing on his own experience as a prisoner of war in Germany.
The film was released in 1956 and stars François Leterrier as Fontaine, with Charles Le Clainche as Jost, Maurice Beerblock as Blanchet, Roland Monod as the Priest of Leiris, Jacques Ertaud as Orsini and Jean Paul Delhumeau as Hebrard. It was produced by Alain Poiré and Jean Thuillier. It appeared early in Bresson's career, in the years before Pickpocket, The Trial of Joan of Arc and Au Hasard Balthazar.
Audiences rate it highly: on IMDb it holds 8.1 out of 10 from around 31,000 votes, and on TMDB 8 out of 10 from a much smaller number of votes. Critics' assessments are higher still, at 9.6 out of 10 from 43 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Mozart's Mass in B Minor (K. 427) was used as the musical accompaniment.
- The second part of the film's title is a reference to the Gospel of John: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
- The film is based on the memoirs of André Devigny, who was a prisoner of the Montluc prison during World War II.
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