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

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:

Robert Bresson himself had been a prisoner of war during WWII.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Gefängnisbilder (2000)

Soundtrack:

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

the most decisive French movie of the fifties

That's how François Truffaut greeted Robert Bresson's 1956 masterwork. It was the golden rule in the offices of "les Cahiers Du Cinéma" to hammer the common production of French cinema and to hail the filmmakers who tried something new and groundbreaking for the future of French cinema. So it's no wonder Bresson was one of the darlings of the Young Turks of the New Wave.

"Un Condamné à Mort s'est Echappé" was Bresson's unique big French hit and it's sure easy to see why. It's essentially an optimistic piece of work in the filmography of a filmmaker whose pessimism will increase with the years, especially in his final works such as "le Diable Probablement", 1977 and "l'Argent", 1983. But here, this optimism is expressed by the title itself and lieutenant Fontaine's energetic behavior. The persistence with which he leads his plan in a hostile isolated place has a communicative power with the audience and it's impossible to resist to it. This yearning for freedom is present from the very first shot after the opening credits that showcases him in a car driving him to the fort with his hand touching the handle of the door.

This sequence as well as the few shots that open the film on a Mozart music set the scene for Bresson's cinematographic approach to relate this great escape. The filmmaker favors many shots with hands handling various objects and has little care for action sequences. In the first moment when Fontaine manages to escape from the car but is soon arrested, the action is perceived from the same angle. Moreover, German soldiers are reduced to shadows and very often, one can hear them but one can't see them. Then, Bresson kept a principle from "le Journal d'Un Curé De Campagne" (1951) with a recitative voice-over that relates the actions, gestures or thoughts of the main character on the screen. Priority is given to the image and sound. Rarely has sound been so well served here. And of course, Bresson asked his "models" for a deliberately bland acting. The amount gives a visual, narrative tour De force and marks in a significant way the evolution of Bresson's art of film-making.

So, is "un Condamné à Mort s'est Echappé", the most decisive French film of the fifties"? Not really but in Bresson's filmography it is a crucial step for what will follow afterward.