A Man Escaped

Robert Bresson is a unique figure in cinema history, ploughing his own furrow with no regard for fashion or box-office receipts. Over thirty years, he has produced a body of work which has inspired admiration in almost every other director of this period, and A Man Escaped represents one of his peak achievements.

Based on a true story, it follows the captive, internment and escape attempts of a man during the war. Shot in typically austere Bressonian style which aims to avoid all the manipulative trickery of "conventional" direction, the film's minutely detailed portrayal of physical actions creates a tension that is almost unbearable. The naturalistic soundtrack of the noise from the outside world audible in the cell, prefigures Eraserhead in its atmospheric intensity. This is a film by one of the great original artists of the cinema.

Review by Andrew Abbott
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94