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I took my decidedly non-cinephile mother to a 35mm revival, with a very similar reaction.

What an excellent film.

I think that "minimalist" would be an appropriate term used to describe A Man Escaped, and Bresson himself proves to be a master of it. His entire cast is made up of non-professional actors, his screenplay mostly consisting of voiceover, and his film edited rather simplistically. Yet this effect still manages to create an incredibly intense, engrossing prison-break drama, even layered with some religious themes, which I understand play a significant role in Bresson's other films.

I found it amazing how realistic and unconventional the film was. Had this been a Hollywood production, I'm sure the studio would've have turned the ending all the way up to eleven, filled with gunshots and explosions. Bresson employs no silly tricks though and still manages to leave the viewer on the edge of their seat. The title may reveal a lot about the film, but never does this take away from its tension.

A Man Escaped is now officially my first Bresson film. Looks like I need to check out more of his work.

Jeff wrote:The Criterion release now includes all the supplements found on various editions of the film around the world and a whole hell of a lot more.

Watching the supplements, I feel like I've seen the "Cinéastes de notre temps" episode and The Road to Bresson before, but I don't see that either has appeared on a previous Criterion release and I can't imagine where I would otherwise have seen them. I know the latter is on the Artificial Eye DVD of this film, but I bought that years ago and never even took the shrink wrap off. Where else might I have seen these?

I love Bresson to death, but it's painfully clear why the man went out of his way not to do filmed interviews. He is very difficult to watch in his "Cinéastes de notre temps" interview (he keeps creeping to the edge of the frame like he wants to run out of the room), so much so that he reminds me of some of the (likely) mentally ill library patrons I've "helped" through the years.

I saw the Cinéastes thing a bunch of times on youtube a few years ago. I love Bresson interviews.