177 La tête contre les murs

[Finch]

After he steals money from his wealthy father one too many times, the rebellious François (Jean-Pierre Mocky, Litan) is forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution. Labelled a delinquent and an arsonist, he endures the dehumanising treatment reserved for society’s rejects, and attempts to thwart the archaic methods of the cruel Dr. Varmont (Pierre Brasseur, Children of Paradise). Adapted by Mocky from Hervé Bazin’s shocking autobiographical novel, this poetic and furious debut feature from Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) features an all-star cast including Anouk Aimée (La Dolce Vita) as François’s only visitor, Paul Meurisse (Les diaboliques) in the role of the more modern Dr. Emery, and Charles Aznavour (Shoot the Pianist) as a long-time resident of the institution.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

4K restoration by Éclair Classics supervised by Mocky Delicious Products
Uncompressed mono PCM audio
Archival interview with screenwriter and star Jean-Pierre Mocky (2008, 10 mins)
Archival interview with director Georges Franju and actor Charles Aznavour (1958)
Interview with Jean-Pierre Mocky’s assistant and friend Eric Le Roy (2023, 25 mins)
Newly improved English subtitle translation
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
Limited edition booklet featuring archival writing by film critic Raymond Durgnat
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[domino harvey]

Quite unexpected, but nice to know former DVD only MoC titles are also in the mix

La Tête contre les murs (Georges Franju 1959)
Young man hassles father, ends up institutionalized, leaves, stays, leaves, stays. I have seen too many films that treat a stay in a mental hospital like an extended vacation to get your shit together, so while I commend the film for not offering up such platitudes, I damn it for not offering up anything in its place. In a world where psychological approaches to neuroses and mental health was in full swing, the film’s choice to focus on no psychology outside of “Daddy issues” is somehow more insulting than silly bastardizations of psychotherapy like the Dark Past. Why does this film exist? Why did I have to sit through an hour and a half of it (twice!)? Why does the Durgnat excerpt keep referring to “style” and “lyricism” when none is present in the film? Why does nothing interesting or of importance happen? Sure, the film does not exploit, but it does not explore either. It indeed has no curiosity, and could very well have been written by the boorish protagonist, who likewise makes no real effort at betterment or reflection. Outside of Thérèse Desqueyroux, I think little of Franju’s features, but that film is a masterpiece of depression and worth all the misses that surrounded it to get it so right. This is a failure that gets it so wrong, though.

[MichaelB]

I'll never cease to be astonished by the number of times my position is 180º removed from yours! So much so that I get genuinely taken aback when we're in sync (Allonsanfàn).

Anyway, this was my Sight & Sound review of the MoC disc:

La Tête contre les murs

Georges Franju; France 1958; Eureka/Masters of Cinema/Region 0; Certificate 12; 92 minutes; Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 non-anamorphic; Features: interviews, trailer, booklet. (MFB No. 331)

This isn't the first time that a Georges Franju film has been considered for a 'Rediscovery' piece, but recent reissues of Les Yeux sans visage (Second Sight) and a Judex/Nuits rouges double bill (Eureka/Masters of Cinema) were sidelined in favour of something more immediately tempting. But this is nothing new for Franju (1912-87), whose fascinating, still underexplored career was largely spent in the margins. A feature debut in 1958 suggests the vanguard of the nouvelle vague, but he was a generation older than Godard and Truffaut, having already worked as a journalist, archivist (he co-founded the Cinématheque Française with Henri Langlois) and distinguished documentary-maker. His slaughterhouse portrait Le Sang des bêtes (1949) first heralded his unflinching approach to material from which most viewers would instinctively recoil.

La Tête contre les murs ('Head Against the Wall') is similarly confrontational, being largely set in a lunatic asylum - though as Dr. Varmont (Pierre Brasseur) explains, the staff wouldn't use such pejorative terms. Rightly in the case of 25-year-old François Gérane, as he isn't actually insane: his father had him committed after catching him stealing money and burning important documents as a symbolic expression of his hatred. The Kafkaesque logic at the heart of his decision is that prison would have brought shame upon a distinguished legal family, the advantage of the asylum being that it leaves no public paper trail.

Much of the film draws on familiar generic tropes: there are several suspenseful escape attempts, and the administration of the asylum is split along familiar lines. Dr. Valmont is the strict traditionalist and Dr. Emery (Paul Meurisse) the liberal progressive, though the efficacy of both their philosophies is frequently called into question. There's also a love story, albeit one with more mystery than romance: Stephanie (Anouk Aimée) develops an unexpectedly strong interest in an apparent wastrel like Gérane for reasons that are never fully explained. Charles Aznavour, in his first major acting role, wrings genuine pathos out of the epileptic patient who's set his heart on being treated by Dr. Emery, a desire that itself triggers unresolvable psychological trauma.

Jean-Pierre Mocky plays Gérane, and originally intended to direct (he would become a prolific director of cynical comedies, little-seen in English-speaking countries). Denied the opportunity by the film's backers, Mocky proposed Franju - an unlikely choice, given his own lack of feature experience, but one that nonetheless got the go-ahead. Franju's documentary experience can be easily discerned in the matter-of-fact treatment of the asylum itself (which, naturally, was genuine), particularly the scene in which Gérane has his first communal meal. But there are also strong hints of the more fantastical direction his career would subsequently take, with several images imbued with a decidedly Surrealist sensibility. One of Gérane's escape attempts sees him fleeing across a field streaked with lines of flames, and from a certain angle the pond in the main recreational courtyard looks distinctly like a coffin.

One of the most reliable UK labels when it comes to presentation, Eureka's Masters of Cinema offshoot does the film proud: the source print is largely pristine, and the optional subtitles clear and idiomatic. On-disc extras include illuminating interviews with Jean-Pierre Mocky and Charles Aznavour, while the 50-page booklet reproduces valuable archive material, including a chapter from Raymond Durgnat's 1968 book on Franju, and two Cahiers du Cinéma pieces: an impassioned paean by Jean-Luc Godard (1958) and a Franju interview (1959). When it comes to truly effective rehabilitation, Drs. Varmont and Emery could learn much from this package.

[MichaelB]

And it was thanks to Mocky's suggestion that Franju direct La Tête contre les murs that Franju ended up making Eyes Without a Face, whose producer Jules Borkon had pitched it to Claude Brasseur while La Tête contre les murs was in production. Brasseur thought that the project looked like a load of old wibble, but he'd become a regular drinking pal of Franju during the shoot, and they made a pact that Brasseur would say yes, but only if Franju could direct. Borkon was less than keen, but badly wanted Brasseur, so he said yes, Franju hired a crack team of writers to unrecognisably transform Jean Redon's lurid pulp page-turner, and the rest is history.