Don't listen to the negative reviews

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

After watching Mouchette recently, Robert Bresson's minimalist style was starting to grow on me. Although I found it sterile in something like Pickpocket, I've now found where his emotion comes from. A Man Escaped provides a thrilling setup right from the start. Whereas Pickpocket's best scenes were the ones featuring its title, A Man Escaped is constantly about the protagonist's slow progression to a breakout and it's a masterclass in designing a resourceful character. It could hold onto cheap tension, but it trusts subtle touches instead and results in a very mature approach. It's all about how humanity at its core has a need for escape as an act of self-preservation and how far they will go to get it to the point of considering killing someone else. This film is definitely Bresson's craft at his best but it's a little too dry to call it a favourite and not as emotional as Mouchette, if more psychologically interesting. Even so, Bresson sure does find a way to make his films feel much longer than they are with his crossfading editing technique. Is this the best his style can get or is there more awaiting me? We'll have to see.8/10

Robert Bresson's "A Man Escaped" is perfect. He's one of my most favorite filmmakers. His style is very austere; he eschews flamboyant camera work in favor of the rudimentary. I really enjoy Bresson's catalog.The film begins with the protagonist, Fontaine (Francois Leterrier), in the back seat of a police car and on the verge of attempting to escape by opening the door. Just as in the later prison break, Fontaine hesitates to the point where you wonder if he will do it. He does and is immediately arrested. Instead of following Fontaine on the street, Bresson remains with the police officer who is expressionless throughout Fontaine's capture. Reducing everything potentially of visual interest is Bresson's unique style, and it works.Fontaine has been beaten when he arrives at the prison, and he will wear his bloody shirt for the rest of the film. The initial scenes of Fontaine in his cell are hellish. Leterrier's narration informs us that Fontaine expects to be executed. Bresson's austere style makes this seem plausible.Fortunately for him, the French Resistance knows where he is and a stranger who paces the courtyard (with two other men) befriends Fontaine. The narration reminds us that Fontaine has to trust this stranger with secrets that are potentially fatal to others if intercepted by the Gestapo.The Germans in "Man Escaped" are ruthless. There is never the possibility that they will behave as stupidly as the Germans do in "The Great Escape" or "Hogan's Heroes." Bresson makes them real. Here the Germans are shooting spies and three of Fontaine's prison allies will face a firing squad.When Fontaine is moved to another cell he discovers a flaw in the cell's door. He begins slowly carving out the panels, trying not to make too much noise. Early on his actions are opposed by the rest of his cell block. As Fontaine gets closer to making his prison break, the other block members begin telling him he's moving too slow! Fontaine is taken to the Hotel Terminus where his death sentence is read by an unseen official. Fontaine is terrified that he will be either killed on the spot or taken to another cell. He isn't.As Fontaine gets closer to the break out the minimalist dialogue between him and the other cell block members is really strong. A final complication emerges when another man, Jost (Charles Le Clainche), joins Fontaine's cell. Fontaine fears that he is a spy. He has to make his break and can't figure out where Jost stands.The prison break is wildly suspenseful and fairly realistic. Fontaine and Jost have to wait long stretches before taking their next steps. There is a lot of suspense, and Bresson's camera is making it seem real.Bresson really understands Devigny's memoir and renders it perfectly. This is the best prison break movie ever made by a large margin.

"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.

Robert Bresson's works are productions which don't intend to satisfy expectations of the audience, they are primarily art-house projects. Bresson's films thus are non-commercial, he only uses non-professional actors, rarely integrates music, besides his shots are realistic, lack action and instead focus on the essential, there are no embellishments to sell a scene. What you see on the screen is understated, minimalistic, carefully planned efficiency - less is more.All these things apply to "A Man Escaped", based on a true story, and the title already tells you the whole plot. It's as basic as that, and miraculously this does the trick: In between the daily prison routines we get to know how our protagonist works on a plan to make the impossible happen, piece by piece he progresses, and the longer his efforts last the more we identify with the endeavor and root for him. Bresson's direction is restrained, unobtrusive, the pace is slow, dictated by prison life regularity, yet the film turns out to be extremely suspenseful in its simplicity, despite or maybe because it doesn't shun to return to the same images and camera perspectives again and again. Sound plays a key role and of course the recitative voice-over, which holds it all together. I guess it's safe to say that a man indeed escaped movie making conventions with this one and succeeded - chapeau bas à Robert Bresson.Additional note: The other film on par with Bresson's mastery as far as prison escape films are concerned is of course Jacques Becker's seminal "Le Trou" (1960). Realism dominates that one as well, though "Le Trou" has more psychological drama thanks to the group dynamics involved. Despite the somewhat different angle "Le Trou" is as riveting, intense and suspenseful throughout as Bresson's take on the subject. The players are mainly non-actors in this one as well, the emotions are palpable, all sounds in the film are diegetic (always occurring on screen) etc., you see the parallels. To sum it up: Edge-of-the-seat cinema without distracting gimmicks. Two Frenchmen who knew how to do it!