La Tête Contre Les Murs — La Tête Contre Les Murs ( Blu Ray)
La Tête Contre Les Murs (Head Against the Wall) is a late 50’s French film which blends drama with subtle touches of noir and grim suspense. It regards a twentysomething troublesome son being sent to a psychiatric hospital by his stern, prim, and proper father. The film mixes fish-out-of-water drama with great, darkly moody cinematography and a low-key but effective character arc for its lead. Here from Radiance is a Blu-ray- featuring a 4k scan and a selection of archive extras.
La Tête Contre Les Murs is from the year 1959 and was directed by Georges Franju in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine, France. This was his first feature, after which he had a total of eleven features, including the likes of classic/ early body horror/ mad doctor film Eyes Without A Face (1960), psychological drama Therese (1962), and WWI-set drama Thomas The Imposter (1966).
The film is shot in black & white- to great, moody effect- it rolls in at just under the one-hour and forty-minute mark. We open on a dusty and sunbaked hillside, where we see a dressed-all-in-black leather motocross rider whizzing up & down. Walking along nearby is a woman dressed in black with a headdress. The bike pulls up, and we get to meet our leads- there’s cocky and flippant François Gérane(Jean-Pierre Mocky), and wind-swept and rather mysterious Stéphanie ( Anouk Aimée).
We find out sooner enough that François is a womaniser and gabbler- having got a large debt, so he’s trawling nightspots trying to get a loan from his friends. In desperation, he decides to break into the grand house of his stern, strict, and balding father- to steal some money, and burn legal paperwork. His father storms in, and one thing leads to another- with François getting sectioned/ sent to a countryside psychiatric hospital.
Here we find gruffly voiced, bespectacled, chin-bearded Dr. Varmont (Pierre Brasseur)- who likes doing things in a traditional/ stern way. Sleekly hair-gelled and smartly dressed Dr. Emery (Paul Meurisse), who is keen to experiment with the patient.
Initially, François is keen to get out, but after being dosed up with barbiturates after a failed escape. He slowly but surely gets worn down, with only visits from Stéphanie that keep him going.
The film features some really memorable shots; a lot of these are captured at nighttime. These go from headlights appearing from towering tree avenues, lights against tall and ominous brick walls, a man having an epileptic fit in long grass, and fields set alight in dusk light.
The film is a decidedly glum drama, which remains engaging, and you do really keep hoping things will go right in the end ok François- as Jean-Pierre Mocky really is excellent in the role. And the rest of the support cast is well picked too.
The disc takes in a 4 K scan- it really enhances the film's wonderful cinematography. With the subtitles being largely readable, though unfortunately the white text on white background is easy to read.
On the disc we have a few interesting archive extras. There’s a 2008 interview with screenwriter and star Jean-Pierre Mocky (10:00). He talks about how the film was the first of its kind in France, due to its mental hospital setting. Moving on to discussing how he adapted Hervé Bazin’s 1949 autobiographical novel to the screen. How the film went well with the critics, but it didn’t do well at the box office. A 1958 interview with director Georges Franju and actor Charles Aznavou (11.40). 2023 Interview with Jean-Pierre Mocky’s assistant and friend Eric Le Roy ( 26.06), where he discusses the importance of the film to Mocky’s career, his shift over to directing, etc.
The release comes with a twenty-eight-page inlay booklet. This takes in cast and crew detail. A sixteen-and-a-half-page chapter from Raymond Durgnat's 1967 book Franju- which covered the career of director Georges Franju- the chapter focuses in on the film in hand. Plus a good selection of stills, transfer notes and credits.
If you either have a penchant for glum and well-acted drama, or psych hospital set melodrama, then La Tête Contre Les Murs will appeal. This Radiance release takes in a lovely 4k scan, and a good enough selection of archive extras.