Some films are popularly known by their English title, some are known by the original title. This film, A Man Escaped in English, is know best by that title, and for good reasons, because the original title, as you can see, is very long and a pain to remember, so I am going to refer to it as A Man Escaped from now on. Robert Bresson is a French director whose influence can be debated, but regardless was a big influence on the Nouvelle Vague, and in some of his films it shows.
Bresson’s films are radically different from other films at the time, particularly Hollywood films. While in Antonioni we find that the narrative of the film is what separates him the most from Hollywood (although that is a crude analysis), this is not true all the time for Bresson. This is a story that easily could have been made into a Hollywood film; in fact, there have been several types of this kind of movie from Hollywood, most notably The Great Escape (John Sturges, 1963) and Escape from Alcatraz (Don Siegel, 1979). The difference lies in what way that Bresson tells the narrative. Bresson’s key mark is minimalism. The actors and the camera don’t emote. The opening credit tells us this is a true story, and in many ways this film is similar to Procès de Jeanne d’Arc (Robert Bresson, 1962), which like this film attempts at tell a historical event in an utmost documentary fashion, but documentary is sort of the wrong word here. Rather, Bresson attempts to make it as “real” as possible, by not having his actors or the lens interfere. The story is simply retold, not interpreted. It is an attempt at a simple and accurate representation of what happened. The reason the actors don’t emote because we are supposed to remain detached and objective towards what happens on screen. Similarly, the act of using the camera to change our perspective or tell us what to think has been omitted, thus we remain “objective”. Some say that Bresson’s directing technique is too cold, and indeed, it is cold. However, his films are not stripped of emotion. Just because the filmmaker isn’t telling us what to feel, it doesn’t mean we can’t connect or feel anything about the film. This is where the genius of Bresson lies, the emotion is actually swelling within the film, but it hides behind layers, and if you take the time to invest in his films, they are some of the most rewarding in cinema. Similarly here, it is in many ways a thriller. Bresson could have used many classic techniques, but instead uses his own as a matter of fact pace and still manages to create something very compelling.
Bresson does have an eye for detail, the process the protagonist goes through to escape is carefully documented and filmed, how he creates all his tools, how he plans to escape. But also his daily life, similar sets and actions are repeated over and over here, like when the prisoners go to get a wash. This sense of routine creates several things, but familiarity is one of them. Soon the audience will notice when something is not right, when something is amiss. Bresson is great at creating tension, when the protagonist is working in his cell trying to break his door with as little noise as possible, the footsteps of guards and doors being unlocked can always be heard in the distance. The film spends most of the time in the small cell, and again, what makes it all interesting is the details Bresson puts in there, the cell is examined to every corner, and although the actions performed by the protagonist are repetitive, it is still interesting and compelling to see whether he manages to make his plan to escape succeed. We are never allowed to see anything beyond the protagonist, but we do not necessarily share his perspective. However, this technique does give us the feeling of being closed off, unable to escape. As the acting is so strained, we are never allowed to completely sympathise with him, in fact, there are many times we are angry or don’t agree with him. Again, we want him to escape, because we want to escape. I do think this is a great movie, the only qualm I had with it was that while the visuals were really good, I feel Bresson could have left out some of the voice-over by the protagonist. Some of it is good and essential, but a lot of it could have been cut or edited.
A Man Escaped is a classic in the Bresson catalogue, it is a shining example of how one can tell such a narrative in a radically different way and still be effecting, the atmosphere of the prison is haunting at times, and the use of Mozart’s music works really well. A film that I will think about long after watching it.
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