Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (1956)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robert Bresson

Writers:

Robert Bresson (scenario and dialogue)
André Devigny (memoir)

Release Date:

26 August 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War

Plot:

French Resistance activist Andre Devigny is imprisoned by the Nazis, and devotes his waking hours to planning an elaborate escape...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Nazi | French Resistance | Prison Break | Spoon

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

François Leterrier	...	Fontaine
Charles Le Clainche	...	Jost
Maurice Beerblock	...	Blanchet
Roland Monod	...	Priest of Leiris
Jacques Ertaud	...	Orsini
Jean Paul Delhumeau	...	Hebrard
Roger Treherne	...	Terry
Jean Philippe Delamarre	...	Le Prisonnier 110
César Gattegno	...	Prisoner X
Jacques Oerlemans	...	Chief Warden
Klaus Detlef Grevenhorst	...	L'Officier de L'Abwehr
Leonhard Schmidt	...	Escort Guard
Roger Planchon	...	Guard on a Bike
Max Schöndorff	...	Soldat Allemand

Also Known As:

A Man Escaped (International: English title)
A Man Escaped or: The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth (USA) (complete title)
Le vent souffle où il veut (France) (short title)

Runtime:

99 min | Portugal:90 min (censored version)

Country:

France

Language:

French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | UK:U (1990) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Prison de Montluc, Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France

Company:

Gaumont

Trivia:

This forms the first of a loose trilogy by Robert Bresson of prison pictures, with the other films being "Pickpocket" and "The Trial of Joan of Arc".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gefängnisbilder (2000)

Soundtrack:

Great Mass in Do Minor, No.16 (K.427) - Kyrie

Was there ever a sparer, more concentrated film?

Was there ever a sparer, more concentrated film? The painstaking focus on the ritual-like preparation for the escape is almost wrenching in its calm severity; yet always graceful, always fluid. The details of the final escape make for one of the most memorable sequences in cinema - interspersed with episodes of doubt in which he falters for hours or more before taking the next step, just as he delays the escape itself for many days even though he knows his execution is imminent. It's almost like a sombre dance with death, or at least a morally exacting examination of one's limits and a fear of the transcendent (which in this case is represented merely by freedom itself). There are no moments of light relief or variation here, just an attention to process and causality - the concentration on the plan almost becomes a means of redemption, until carrying out the plan becomes almost superfluous if not destructive. Of all Bresson's films, this is the one that best engages on a thematic level while simultaneously working as narrative - his distilled gravity constitutes a fantastically effective suspense mechanism; a model of tight storytelling.