Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

drazsika-716-814820 An ultimate story! What else do you need for a perfect movie: a story of a niemand: an anonymous soldier / partisan that is sentenced to death. And his head is set to escape: and the same way as it happened in reality, he escapes.A tense, existentialist movie - that, for once has a (most simple) story.I wasn't bored for one millisecond...

Jonathon Dabell Jean Luc-Godard once said "Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music". Why, then, are Bresson's films so relatively neglected outside his native France? Perhaps the answer can be found in Bresson's philosophy of employing mainly non-professional actors, or his conscious choice to use lots of naturalistic sound in his films rather than hiring composers to pour dramatic scoring over the action. Whatever the explanation, Bresson's films are well worth seeking out. Arguably the best of all – and the one most likely to hook newcomers to the director's work – is Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent soufflé où il veut, known in English-speaking countries simply as A Man Escaped. It is an incredible film, viewable on one level as a taut escape story but equally viewable as a metaphorical story of hope and salvation.Fontaine (François Leterrier) is a member of the French Resistance during WWII. Captured by the Nazis, he is taken to the notorious prison of Fort Montluc near Lyon. After attempting to escape in transit, only to be recaptured, Fontaine is soon incarcerated at Montluc on the first floor of the jail. He is confined to his cell but also handcuffed for good measure. Later he is moved up to the top floor of the jail, considered so inescapable that there is no longer any need for his handcuffs, which are promptly removed. Fontaine gradually establishes that the cell doors are made of sub-standard wood and manages to steal an iron spoon one meal-time which he uses to painstakingly dismantle the door, putting it back together as he goes to prevent his escape plans from being detected. When Fontaine learns that he is soon to be executed, his need to escape becomes more urgent than ever. The plan is jeopardised when a new prisoner is moved into the same cell – a young German deserter named François Jost (Charles Le Clainche). Fontaine is unsure whether he can trust Jost and faces a terrible dilemma… should he tell the young man about his planned escape and risk failure, or kill him to ensure secrecy (and in so doing sacrifice his moral dignity)?Based on the true memoirs of P.O.W. Andre Devigny, A Man Escaped is brilliantly tense throughout. Much of the film passes wordlessly, capturing the methodical perseverance with which Fonatine works on his escape, emphasising the aching silence within the jail so as to make every scratch of Fontaine's spoon a potentially fatal giveaway sound. No film has ever used silence to generate such tension, but Bresson does it magnificently – there are moments where you almost feel the hero's heartbeat might be loud enough to scupper his plan. The excitement is almost unbearable and, better still, is sustained for long segments of the film. Léonce-Henri Burel's cinematography is excellent throughout, capturing a sparse and desolate atmosphere which seems to emanate from the prison wall itself. The performances are remarkable too – even more so considering that the leads are all non-professionals – with Leterrier in particular commanding attention as the grimly determined Fontaine. A Man Escaped is a masterpiece – one of the greatest French films of all- time, one of the greatest prison break films of all-time and one of the greatest hope-in-the-face-of-adversity films of all-time. The sooner it is rediscovered by modern audiences, the better.

kurosawakira Bresson's intimate, claustrophobic and spirituous prison break has become an epitome of effective, atmospheric minimalist film-making. At first it might seem solecistic in its silence, but this silence is not distance, it is utmost closeness, gets us under the skin. Trussing the rope, slowly working through the wood in the door, finding the escape route – Bresson allows the silence to make us accomplices; his birr for escape is internal to the very outrance that his outward appearance signals to us nervousness, procrastination. This struggle makes the film more powerful an experience through Bresson's use of silence and closed space, and very much like in Lumet's "12 Angry Men" (1958), the space – or the lack of it thereof – becomes an irresistible force in keeping us engaged.Leterrier carries the film, as he should lest the film completely lack in purpose and turn into a miserly exercise without humanity. He manages to project nerviness and nervousness, strength and weakness, determination and vacillation simultaneously, internalizing the thought process but with his body emphasizing everything we need to know at the moment. Again, the atmosphere is so tangible you feel like you're there. The sweat, the fear, the desire.

blanche-2 "A Man Escaped" is a 1956 French film by Robert Bresson, starring Francois Leterrier and Charles Le Clianche. It's the story of a resistance member, Fontaine (Leterrier) who is imprisoned by the Nazis. He spends all of his time plotting a detailed escape, using items like a spoon, clothing, lantern hooks, whatever he can get his hands on that will help him in his quest. Still, even when Fontaine has it all worked out, he hesitates to go for it. Then he learns that he is to be executed. If that isn't bad enough, he gets a roommate, Jost (Le Clianche). Fontaine has to escape quickly now, but supposing his new cell mate is an informant? Should he take him along...or kill him? This may be the most nerve-wracking movie I've ever seen. It's absolutely agonizing. I kept saying out loud, go already! I was a wreck for this man. The film is done so painstakingly, with the character of Fontaine narrating.Leterrier, with his thin face and haunted look, essays the role of Fontaine perfectly. As his cell mate, Le Clianche is excellent, a young man whose motives can't initially be read.Very tense, very suspenseful, you'll find it hard to breathe or swallow. Highly recommended for a totally involving experience from one of the French post-war masters, Robert Bresson.