Le Trou

Le Trou, the last film directed by Jacques Becker, is considered one of the masterpieces of modern French cinema. Melville called it «the greatest French film of all time», and Daney wrote: «Godard recently said that French cinema had only had one theme, in particular of the prisoner. If so, Le Trou is a unique film [...] Only Becker comes close to the idea of freedom».

The spectator lives an almost immersive experience, following step-by-step the actions of inmates who would do anything to breathe the air of freedom again. Becker, who died a few weeks after filming ended, chose mostly non-actors for the lead roles, including Jean Keraudy, a man who, in 1947, was involved in the attempted escape from La Santé prison, in which the book by Giovanni and Becker's film are based.

Duration: 131
Production year: 1960
Country: France
Subtitles: FR, Subtitles: PT

French Union of Film Critics 1961 - Best Film of the Year

Jacques Becker

Jacques Becker was a French film director and screenwriter born on September 15th, 1906, in Paris. He began working in cinema in the 1930s as an assistant to Jean Renoir. Becker followed Renoir's most creative period and learned a lot in those years. At the beginning of World War 2, Becker was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for a year. After that, when France was the target of German occupation, the French director began to direct his own films, joining the Comité de Libération du Cinéma Français. He directed films like Casque d`or (1952), the influential gangster film Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954), and the prison escape drama Le Trou (1960). Becker is considered a fundamental author of French Cinema. Becker died at the age of 53 in 1960, weeks after completing Le Trou.

Original title: Le Trou

Jacques Becker

Credits