A Man Escaped

A Man Escaped or The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth (, which literally translates as: "A man condemned to death has escaped or The wind blows where it wants"; the subtitle is a quote from ) is a 1956 French prison film directed by Robert Bresson. It is based on a memoir by André Devigny, a member of the French Resistance who was held in Montluc prison during World War II by the occupying Germans, though the protagonist of the film was given a different name. The film was screened in competition at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, and it has been one of Bresson's most renowned works since its initial release. Plot In Lyon in 1943, Fontaine, a member of the French Resistance, jumps out of the car that is taking him to Montluc prison. He is immediately apprehended, and his German captors handcuff him, beat him, and lock him up. Throughout his time in prison, Fontaine regularly hears gunfire as other inmates are executed. At first, Fontaine is placed in a cell on the ground floor of Montluc. He communicates with his neighbor by tapping on the wall and is regularly able to talk to Terry, a member of a small group that is allowed to exercise in a courtyard unsupervised, from his window. Terry takes Fontaine's letters to his family and superiors in the Resistance and gets him a safety pin so he can remove his handcuffs.