Of all the great prison-escape movies, Bresson's is, as one would expect, the most patient and meticulous by far, eschewing melodrama and focusing completely on the details of the preparations for escape made by Lieutenant Fontaine, a French resistance fighter imprisoned by the Germans. Francois Leterrier, another of Bresson's non-actors given leading roles (although perhaps the only one who later went on to direct an Emanuelle film, namely Goodbye, Emanuelle) is sufficiently soulful as Fontaine, and the film is completely focused on his perspective. Bresson wastes no time on stock cruel-Nazi scenes or excessive vive-le-resistance group bonhomie or even any direct portrayals of violence, nor does he rely on sound or editing effects to create tension. The great quietness and slowness of Fontaine's preparations, and the agonizing, frequently halted progress of the escape itself evoke a very real sense of duration, while still keeping the story marching along. Though purity of purpose takes A Man Escaped far, a little more complexity of motivation or diversity of character, along the lines of the successful late plot development when another prisoner is added to Fontaine's cell, might have clinched it as a film classic of the order of Bresson's later, greater L'Argent.