I always knew that Jacques Becker, the father of one of my favorite French directors, Jean Becker, was also a film director, but I only watched one of his films, Montparnasse 19. But his most famous film is his last film, Le trou, 1960.
The film is based on the real story of the preparation of the escape in 1947 from the Paris prison
more
I always knew that Jacques Becker, the father of one of my favorite French directors, Jean Becker, was also a film director, but I only watched one of his films, Montparnasse 19. But his most famous film is his last film, Le trou, 1960. The film is based on the real story of the preparation of the escape in 1947 from the Paris prison of Santa, it was described in a novel written after leaving prison by one of the participants Joseph Damiani under the pseudonym Jose Giovanni, the novel was highly appreciated, many could not believe that it was written by a former convict. That escape was much written in 1947, even then Jacques Becker drew attention to the story, and asked for a film, and after the release of the novel in 1957, he remembered his idea and began to implement it, and he sought to make the film as believably as possible, without famous actors, and for one of the roles even inviting the ideological leader of this escape – Roland Barb, who starred under the pseudonym Jean Kerody in the role of Roland Dunbar, known for his escapes. With his appeal to the audience, the film begins. A young man, Gaspar (Marc Michel), who was imprisoned on charges of attempted murder of his wife, is transferred to another cell, where four prisoners are awaiting trial on charges of serious crimes, while repairing the cell in which he was sitting. Since they face a decent deadline, they decide to organize an escape. The arrival of Gaspar alarms them, they are not too trusting, especially one of them - Manu (Philippe Leroy), but then they still decide to devote it to their plans, otherwise they simply cannot be carried out. They punch a hole in the corner of the chamber into the basement through which they intend to penetrate the sewer, which is known to have external wells. We've been watching for quite some time how scrupulously they do everything, almost in real time. The plan is already close to implementation, but then an unforeseen event happens - Gaspar is summoned to the warden, where he informs him that his wife has withdrawn her application, that is, he may soon be released. Not seeing the expected joy on Gaspar's face, he summons him to a conversation we don't hear, but the consequences of which we see the next day. Jacques Becker described the film as the story of modern Judas, who takes part in the whole process, but ends up being a traitor. And he is such a decent person, but only seemingly. Despite the very limited space of action, we are interested in watching the behavior of the characters, which clearly shows what they really are. Unfortunately, Jacques Becker himself did not live to see the premiere of the film, to the shooting of which he approached so seriously that he rejected the first version and reshot it, his son Jean Becker, who was his assistant on the set of this film, completed the film.
|