“The greatest French film of all time, and I weigh my words carefully” – Jean-Pierre Melville.

“The greatest French film of all time, and I weigh my words carefully” – Jean-Pierre Melville. Based on a real event in La Santé prison in 1947, Becker’s gripping thriller follows mild-mannered prisoner Gaspard who is transferred to a cell with four long-term inmates. Inducted into their escape plan to tunnel through the floor and out beyond the prison walls, the five prisoners work together – their gradual progress ratcheting up the tension and the chance of discovery from the ever-watchful guards.

In French with English subtitles.

This film is screening as part of our Jacques Becker season.

Although lauded by Jean Renoir, Jean-Pierre Melville and Francois Truffaut, Jacques Becker remains one of the great-unsung figures of French cinema. Working in the 1940s and ‘50s, between the poetic realism of the ‘30s and the Nouvelle Vague, Becker spanned a range of genres, and to mark 120 years since his birth we present a selection of his superb filmography – ripe for discovery on the big screen.