Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (1956)

Director:

Robert Bresson

Writers:

Robert Bresson (scenario and dialogue)
André Devigny (memoir)

Release Date:

26 August 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | War

Plot:

French Resistance activist Andre Devigny is imprisoned by the Nazis, and devotes his waking hours to planning an elaborate escape...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Nazi | French Resistance | Prison Break | Spoon

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

François Leterrier	...	Fontaine
Charles Le Clainche	...	Jost
Maurice Beerblock	...	Blanchet
Roland Monod	...	Priest of Leiris
Jacques Ertaud	...	Orsini
Jean Paul Delhumeau	...	Hebrard
Roger Treherne	...	Terry
Jean Philippe Delamarre	...	Le Prisonnier 110
César Gattegno	...	Prisoner X
Jacques Oerlemans	...	Chief Warden
Klaus Detlef Grevenhorst	...	L'Officier de L'Abwehr
Leonhard Schmidt	...	Escort Guard
Roger Planchon	...	Guard on a Bike
Max Schöndorff	...	Soldat Allemand
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
André Collombet	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Bresson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert Bresson		scenario and dialogue
André Devigny		memoir

Produced by
Alain Poiré	....	producer
Jean Thuillier	....	producer

Cinematography by
Léonce-Henri Burel		(as L.H. Burel)

Film Editing by
Raymond Lamy

Production Design by
Pierre Charbonnier

Art Direction by
Pierre Charbonnier

Production Management
Irénée Leriche	....	assistant production supervisor
Robert Sussfeld	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jacques Ballanche	....	assistant director
Michel Clément	....	assistant director

Art Department
Sydney Bettex	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Joseph Abjean	....	sound assistant
Pierre-André Bertrand	....	sound engineer
Guy Rophé	....	sound assistant

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean-Louis Castelli	....	still photographer
Jean Charvein	....	first assistant camera
Jean Chiabaut	....	second assistant camera
Henri Raichi	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Anne Kespars	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Isaïe Disenhaus	....	conductor (as I. Disenhaus)

Other crew
Annie Dubouillon	....	script girl
Andrew Litvack	....	subtitler: English (1994 version)
Anne Walter	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Gaumont
• Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF)

Distributors

• Gaumont (1956) (France) (theatrical) (as Gaumont Distribution)
• Continental Distributing (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (English subtitles)
• Gala Film Distributors (1960) (UK) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• Kinokuniya (2009) (Japan) (DVD)
• New Yorker Films (1994) (USA) (VHS) (new English subtitles)
• New Yorker Films (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Prodimag (2006) (Spain) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Franstudio  studio facilities

Also Known As:

A Man Escaped (International: English title)
A Man Escaped or: The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth (USA) (complete title)
Le vent souffle où il veut (France) (short title)
Apodrasis mellothanaton (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Ein zum Tode Verurteilter ist entflohen (West Germany) [de]
En dödsdömd har rymt (Sweden) [sv]
En dødsdømt flygter (Denmark) [da]
Enas katadikasmenos se thanato edrapetefse (Greece) [el]
Fugiu Um Condenado à Morte (Portugal) [pt]
Ha-Nidon L'Muv'it Barah (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Kuolemaantuomittu on karannut (Finland) [fi]
Rangaistusvanki on karannut eli tuuli puhaltaa siellä missä haluaa (Finland) [fi]
Um Condenado à Morte Escapou (Brazil) [pt]
Un condannato a morte è scappato (Italy) [it]
Un condenado a muerte se ha escapado (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

99 min | Portugal:90 min (censored version)

Country:

France

Language:

French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | UK:U (1990) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Prison de Montluc, Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France

Company:

Gaumont

Trivia:

After seeing the film, Jean-Luc Godard said that Bresson was "to French cinema what Mozart is to German music and Dostoevsky is to Russian literature".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in De weg naar Bresson (1984)

Soundtrack:

Great Mass in Do Minor, No.16 (K.427) - Kyrie

Simple yet practically "spiritual" in its focus on humanity.

Bresson's command of the cinematic language...and more importantly, his restraint... make this a very powerful story of one man's determination to find meaning in his actions, focused goal, and adherence to his beliefs.

Presumably tipping off the viewer with the title (A Man Escaped) we already suspect how it will end, and therefore the tension isn't in the final twists of the story, but rather, his journey to that place.

Narrative stripped down of all melodramatic trappings, the film manages to reveal a larger truth about man's struggle against unknowable odds, his struggle with himself, and his resolve to move forward. A couple of the side-characters are from the church, or pastors, which give the ongoing conversations in the common areas an added resonance to "grace" and a possibility of transcendental deliverance. Even though the lead character doesn't seem to truck much with religious faith.

He has his own - in his resolve to escape.

It's appropriate that we barely know why the lead character is in prison, only that he is already on the way there when the film starts. (And even then, tries a failed attempt to run from the car that is transporting him. So much for back-story. The character is revealed through his subsequent actions.)

A simple beautiful film focused on humanity at its most desperate, spare, and focused.