One condemned to death has escaped

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Movie
German title One condemned to death has escaped
Original title Un condamné à mort s'est échappé
Country of production France
original language French , German
Publishing year 1956
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Bresson
script Robert Bresson
André Devigny
production Alain Poiré
Jean Thuillier
for Gaumont and Nouvelles Éditions de Films
music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
camera Léonce-Henri Burel
cut Raymond Lamy
occupation

A Condemned Man Has Escaped is a 1956 French feature film directed by Robert Bresson .

action

The film is based on a true story, the escape of the French officer André Devigny (1916–1999) from the Fort Montluc prison near Lyon, which was requisitioned by the Wehrmacht .

France during World War II : The captured French officer Fontaine is severely interrogated by the SS and then taken to a cell from which no escape appears to be possible. The days always run in one and the same rhythm, monotony determines the course. The few words kept in whispers between the captured soldiers during the morning wash are already a highlight. Fontaine is the only one among them who thinks of escape. With great effort and patience, he prepares his daring outbreak.

Primitive tools with which he wants to gain freedom without outside help are his only means. The fellow prisoners who have settled in everyday prison life are of no help. Immediately before day X, the Germans lock another prisoner in his cell. The boy, who is just 16 years old, wears a German uniform jacket. Is he an informer? Fontaine has to choose: for trust or the funeral of his plan. He chooses the first one and lets the boy know about his plan. One night they dare to break out together - and it succeeds.

Production notes

The film premiered on November 11, 1956, and Bresson's production started in Germany on September 20, 1961.

The sparse film structures were designed by Pierre Charbonnier .

Awards

  • 1957 Cannes Film Festival Director's Award for Robert Bresson. The film was also nominated for the Palme d' Or.
  • Critic Award of the Syndicat français 1957
  • NBR Award from the National Board of Review 1957
  • Étoile de Cristal , Grand Prix 1957

Reviews

François Truffaut wrote in 1956: “ Un condamné à mort s'est échappé is the meticulous account of a man's escape. In fact, it is a meticulous reconstruction, and Major Devigny, who saw the story thirteen years ago, never left the location for a moment. Bresson kept asking him to show the anonymous actor how to hold a spoon in a cell, how to write on the walls, and how to sleep. We really do live with Fontaine in his prison, not just ninety minutes but two months, and that's what makes it so exciting. "

Reclam's guide reads: “Bresson is not concerned with the external tension that such a subject could create; therefore he already announced the happy outcome in the title. Rather, he wanted to trigger an "inner excitement" in the audience. He said: “What I have in mind is a film of things and of the soul at the same time. That means that I want to try to make the soul visible through things ... ”Consequently, he refuses all the effects of the usual“ breakout films ”. He strings the shots together in an almost unadorned manner, narrating without raising his voice. But it is precisely this apparent monotony that proves to be a highly artistic design tool. The camera watches the main actor, the hasty scraps of words with which the prisoners communicate. It shows closed faces and things over and over again: primitive tools, splintering wood, a scrap of paper on which messages are exchanged. "

In the lexicon of the international film it says: “For the first time in Bresson's oeuvre a consistent separation of image and commentary as well as a renunciation of long shots in favor of the symbolically condensed detail setting. In its formal rigor and radicalism, the film is open to a parable-like understanding, which can also be explained in a Christian way and which is about the vocation of human beings to freedom. "

The DVD accompanying text writes: “Bresson gives his film a strict rhythm - the prisoners who walk in the courtyard, Fontaine working in his cell on the escape route and the rifle volleys of the firing squad can be seen regularly - and for the first time only works with amateur actors who use the material , by the way, a characteristic of all later works by Bresson, due to their “mechanical” acting acting, to a certain extent guarantee universal validity and direct the viewer's focus on what is depicted rather than on the type of representation. With a minimalist imagery and the fact that the outcome of the attempt to escape is anticipated in the title, the director tries to achieve the greatest possible lack of tension; It is the message of salvation that the film consistently works towards, and accordingly deliberately distances itself from other films of this kind. Nevertheless, Un condamné à mort s'est échappé has a great atmospheric density, as the film is situated in an oppressively cramped prison and Fontaine does not know the date of his execution, which creates additional unease. It is also characteristic of Bresson's approach that he completely dispenses with face shots , in contrast to later works such as Mouchette or Au hasard Balthazar ; the characters depicted, v. a. the prison values ​​are degraded to mere functional units that Fontaine has to overcome. The protagonist's longing for freedom and his urge to survive are also reflected in the seldom sounding background music, the "Kyrie" from Mozart's C minor Mass. "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Truffaut in artechock.de
  2. ↑ Reclams Filmführer, by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. Stuttgart 1973, p. 264f.
  3. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexicon of International Films. Volume 9. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987, p. 4446
  4. ↑ Criticism on film-rezensions.de

Web links