Robert Bresson’s simple and meticulous account of the real-life escape of Andre Devigny—called Fontaine (François Leterrier) in the film—is similar, yet different, than the typical escape movie. While it deals with issues of hope, patriotism, oppression and liberation, these are secondary to a different sort of imprisonment: the imprisonment of the spirit.
Through the style of the film, Bresson makes it apparent that he is interested in the interior of his protagonist. The stilted performance by François Leterrier makes it impossible to gauge the reaction of his character by his expression, or even the way he behaves. In a scene late in the film, Fontaine discovers he is to be killed. He falls on his bed and begins shaking. One assumes that this is crying, but without Fontaine’s face, it remains something to be inferred.
Fontaine’s voiceover reveals that he is actually laughing in relief. Through narration, Bresson glimpses into the inner-being of the protagonist. Earlier in the film, Fontaine talks about how he tries to guess what kind of men his fellow prisoners are by gazing at their faces. All he can see is blank, expressionless stares. Likewise, later in the film, a man talks about a fellow prisoner who was betrayed by his wife and how you can’t see his face.
These scenes reinforce the central idea that one cannot know something by its face value, that there is something unseen, unheard and unobserved that defines these characters. In A Man Escaped, it’s the spirit that the film strives to glimpse and let loose.
Fontaine plans to escape, an escape that his fellow prisoners hold as a futile gesture. They say he is the only one who would attempt something so foolhardy. The only man who encourages him is Deleyris (Roland Monod), a pastor. Amid a group of hopeless men, only Fontaine and Deleyris retain some semblance of hope.
In one scene, Deleyris reveals the Bible he receives “everything has changed,” he says, calling it a miracle. In the same scene Fontaine comes across his own miracle as he finds a spoon, an instrument he needs to further his work to break apart the panes of wood that make up his cell door. That Bresson puts these two items in the same scene is no coincidence — both items give the men hope and raise their spirits.
Fontaine tries to bring another man into his escape plan, Orsini (Jacques Ertaud), but he is unable to wait, and decides to launch his own escape plan. It fails. The prisoners know it will not end well. Deleyris passes Fontaine a scripture verse of comfort, a passage where Jesus talks about being born again. As Fontaine reads it, he hears Orsini facing the firing squad. The passage suggests two things. One is that Orsini may be reborn. The second is that Orsini may lose his life, but it will lead to Fontaine’s salvation because he will avoid Orsini’s mistake.
The passage also contains the alternate title of the film: The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth. The full verse is “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Here Bresson recognizes that he is trying to follow the mysterious ways of this spirit.
As Fontaine works on his escape, he worries about his cell neighbor who is suspiciously quiet. He reaches out to him and discovers that his neighbor is afraid that if Fontaine is discovered he will get the whole floor in trouble. This neighbor thinks real courage would not be to escape, but to kill oneself and he has already tried to do just that. This man has lost all hope.
The title of the film gives away the ending. Bresson knows the spirit cannot be contained. Escape is inevitable. One could even argue that both Orsini and Fontaine escape through different means. For as much as the film restrains emotions, it is one of the most hopeful prison films. They may imprison the body, but the spirit will escape. In A Man Escaped, the body just happens to follow.
3 thoughts on “The Second Criterion: ‘A Man Escaped’”
I finally saw this film as well as “Diary of a Country Priest” and “The Trial of “Joan of Arc” last year as I hope to watch more Bresson films soon. This one just sucked me in. Notably the climatic escape in the third act. I just love the slow build up of it and the suspense of the escape where something could go wrong. It’s truly a must-see.
It’s amazing how exciting this film is given how barren it is. The emphasis of the detail and the quietness makes the film suspenseful in a way that isn’t quite thrilling, but still continually engaging to watch.
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