Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

François Leterrier, Roland Monod, Jacques Ertaud, Roger Planchon, Cesar Gattegno ... see more see more... , Charles LeClainche , Maurice Beerblock , Roger Treherne

In a genre crowded with quality films, director Robert Bresson's POW drama has become legendary, in part because it strips down the experience of a man desperate to escape to the essentials. That's in... read more read more... keeping with the approach Bresson took with all of his films. The filmmaker, who spent a year in a German prison camp during World War II, based this story on the experiences of Andre Devigny, a French Resistance fighter sent in 1943 to the infamous prison in Lyons, where 7,000 of the 10,000 prisoners housed there died either by natural means or by execution. Lt. Fontaine (Francois Leterrier) is certain that execution awaits him, and he almost immediately begins planning his escape, using homemade tools and an ingenuity for detecting the few weaknesses in the prison's structure and routine. For a time, he goes it alone, then takes on a partner, but only reluctantly. Fontaine does get some help from a couple of prisoners allowed to stroll in the exercise yard, but for the most part he is a figure in isolation. For Bresson, the process of escape is all, and in simplifying his narrative he ratchets up the tension, creating a film story of survival that many feel is without peer. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Flixster Users

92% liked it

4,973 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

20 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Robert Bresson

Release Date: August 26, 1957

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: May 25, 2004

Stats: 285 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

François Leterrier in Bresson's masterpiece: A Man Escaped
Upload a Photo | View All Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (285)

  • kenstachnik
    March 9, 2011
    kenstachnik
    Hands down one of the best prison escape movies ever made. Period.
  • ajv2688
    November 17, 2010
    ajv2688
    This is a really interesting movie I saw for a class, but I didn't get to see the end. It is really inventive with the sounds and cinematography. If that interests you, I highly recommend this movie.
  • rubystevens
    August 5, 2008
    rubystevens
    a stunning prison drama, based on the memoirs of a french pow who escaped the nazis and a sentence of death. we witness every painstaking detail of his plan and it's execution. i must say i greatly admire bresson's directing style, using untrained actors and a minimalist approa... read morech with riveting results.
  • pier007
    March 27, 2008
    pier007
    A minimalist work of powerful and dramatic precision. Bresson tells the story of a prison break without any contrivance nor decoration, with naturalism and painstaking attention to the sound, the enviroment, and the main character's thoughts. the suspense is nail-biting, and the ... read moresubject matter is profound. cinema in its purest form.
  • fb1142797643
    May 15, 2011
    fb1142797643
    An intimate, compelling tale of one man's meticulous plan to escape from a Nazi prison. The film defies formula in a number of interesting ways, including its sparse score of refined Mozart, its well-mannered set of prisoners, the omission of Jewish issues and the lack of a snarl... read moreing guard/warden positioned as pivotal nemesis. Additionally, all the violence occurs offscreen (though it still retains a proper sense of drama).

    I'm often hostile to the use of narration, particularly in older films, but it works beautifully in this case. The emphasis on sound is generally worth noting -- so much time is devoted to subtle perceptions of footsteps, door latches, knocks, scrapes, bicycle wheels and more.

    Director Robert Bresson's brief introduction says "I've told [the story] as it happened, without embellishment." Precisely. This is airtight filmmaking.
  • gator681
    April 21, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic][color=darkslateblue]"A Man Escaped" starts out in occupied France, 1943. A member of the French resistance, Fontaine, has been captured by the Nazis and makes a hasty break for it before being recaptured. His next escape attempt is going to be better plan... read morened, though.[/color][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][color=#483d8b][/color][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][color=#483d8b]"A Man Escaped" is a skillfully directed film by Robert Bresson. The movie is very detailed in the everyday life of the prisoners and of the preparations for the escape attempt. It is continually tense and suspenseful, despite most of the film taking place in Fontaine's cell. Nearly all of the film is seen from the prisoner's point of view. There is an excellent use of sound to convey what is happening outside of his range of sight. [/color][/font]
  • Lemure
    May 5, 2011
    Lemure
    This is film-making stripped right down. There's nothing flashy here, nobody gets clever with the cinematography, and the acting is average. And it's the film's simplicity that boosts it. The pacing is slow, but this is a true story of a prison-break - and these things do take ti... read moreme. Not that it ever drags. Every moment of the film is focussed on the escape. A rewarding and engrossing watch if you're prepared to let it slowly sink in.
  • KLFilmmaker
    February 8, 2011
    KLFilmmaker
    The most accessible Bresson I've seen. I love that most of the narrative is driven by the lead's voice over.
  • Dracula787
    December 22, 2008
    Dracula787
    A 1956 prison film from the acclaimed French director, Robert Bresson. The only other Bresson film I?d seen was Au Hasard Balthazar, which was super arty and super boring even for me. Balthazar is a movie so boring that even Ingmar Bergman said he couldn?t sit through it, and I... read more?d sort of assumed that the rest of his filmography would be more of the same. Fortunately I was dead wrong, if this film is any indication. This is a brilliant, taut thriller about a man planning to escape from the Nazi jail he was put into for taking part in the resistance. It?s like what The Shawshank Redemption would have been like if it only focused on Andy chiseling through the wall, and almost nothing else. This may sound boring but it isn?t, it?s really fun watching him plan everything out and watch as everything becomes more complicated by the day. In order to keep down on dead silences, the main character narrates the whole film explaining his situation and thought process.

    Bresson expertly builds up tension throughout the film, introducing more and more threat of the man being caught. The whole film plays on the confined space the man is in and the routines he?s forced into to build something of a rhythm to the whole affair. It?s an extremely lean film, there are no superfluous characters, no unneeded subplots, and nothing at all to remove the laser-sited focus the film has to it?s raw human story of? a man escaping.
  • HuskersNC949597
    May 29, 2011
    HuskersNC949597
    Potential spoiler alerts may lie within this particular review.

    Quality suspense based on actual events that seem too "out there" to be real (like nobody noticing him carving his door apart.) But then again, the German bureaucracy was occasionally not all with it. I digress, t... read morehis is a great piece of work.

View All Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Bosley Crowther
March 25, 2006
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

This is not the sort of picture that one should view without knowing what it is. The strain is hard and the reward is limited. But it is a fine reflection of a cruel experience. Full Review

Josh Larsen
February 10, 2012
Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm

Bresson outdoes nearly every escape film you've ever seen, using little more than the face of Francois Leterrier and elemental off-screen sound. Full Review

David Fear
January 17, 2012
David Fear, Time Out New York

Even the title dispenses with unnecessary frills: A man escaped. What more do you need to know? Full Review

Jaime N. Christley
January 17, 2012
Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine

A Man Escaped seems to be one of the few Bresson films that both his fans and detractors can agree on. Full Review

Gabe Leibowitz
December 25, 2009
Gabe Leibowitz, Film and Felt

If it's not as emotionally haunting as Au Hasard Balthazar or Mouchette, it remains a powerful, compelling portrait of discipline, and humanity. Full Review

Ron Reed
September 27, 2006
Ron Reed, Christianity Today

It's a wonder that so stark and minimal a film can create such potent feelings, images and moments that linger so persistently, divine intimations that seem so inescapable.

Dennis Schwartz
April 1, 2006
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The best POW film ever. Full Review

Michael E. Grost
January 18, 2005
Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television

Masterpiece - and strikingly original. Full Review

Doug Cummings
December 1, 2004
Doug Cummings, Filmjourney

Bresson accentuates the metaphysical aspects of the narrative, turning the story into a meditation on existential and spiritual themes rendered in precise, physical terms. Full Review

Don Willmott
August 9, 2004
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

a hero for all time Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • L'Armée des ombres (Army in the Shadows)
    L'Armée des ombres (Army in the Shadows) (80%)
  • La Grande illusion (The Grand Illusion)
    La Grande illusion (The Grand Illusion) (60%)
  • Le Trou (The Hole) (The Nightwatch)
    Le Trou (The Hole) (The Nightwatch) (100%)
  • The Shawshank Redemption
    The Shawshank Redemption (50%)

More Movies like Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped)

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Un condamné à mor... : Watch Free on TV

Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped). Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?