Product Description

An intense study of the clash between medical ideals, the first full-length work from Georges Franju (Les yeux sans visage, Judex) is a gripping examination of postwar psychiatric care, boasting a memorable cast including Pierre Brasseur, Anouk Aimée, Charles Aznavour, Paul Meurisse, and Jean-Pierre Mocky. Mocky plays François Gérane, an aimless young man whose delinquent tendencies cause his father to have him committed to a psychiatric ward. There, under the cold command of Dr. Varmont (Brasseur), he finds himself fighting for his dignity, sanity, and freedom, barely holding on through the new-found love of his girlfriend Stephanie (Aimée) and the promise of rival Dr. Emery's (Meurisse) more humane techniques. Compassionate yet unflinching, La Tête contre les murs is a bold precursor to the likes of Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor and Milos Forman's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, revealing Franju's poetic gift for creating images both concrete and evocative, and an ominous hint of the clinical horrors yet to come in Les yeux sans visage. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the debut feature of a late-flowering, great filmmaker. ****SPECIAL FEATURES *New high-definition transfer from pristine restored materials *Newly translated optional English subtitles *Original French theatrical trailer *A new video interview with Jean-Pierre Mocky filmed in 2008 *A new video interview with Charles Aznavour filmed in 2008 *48-page booklet containing writing by Jean-Luc Godard, Georges Franju, and Raymond Durgnat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8110 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-09-21
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Dolby, PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Synopsis
LA TETE CONTRE LES was director Georges Franju's first purely fictional film. Franju's prior training in documentaries helps to bring a veneer of reality to this harrowing glimpse within the walls of an insane asylum. Pierre Brasseur plays Marbeau, a traditionalist "head doctor" who takes on the case of young Francois (Jean-Paul Mocky). Though not really insane, Francois has been institutionalized for daring to defy his wealthy father. The story is told from Francois' point of view, as he teeters on the edge of madness during his involuntary internment. The film is essentially a plea for more sensible treatment of the mentally disturbed and the emotionally distressed, calling for much-needed widespread reforms -- something that, alas, was not readily forthcoming in the late 1950s.

Customer Reviews

Franju in the psychiatric ward
"Head against the wall" (1959) takes place mostly inside a closed psychiatric ward. The protagonist, a young man with social and economic problems, is placed there against his will by his father. There he encounters two psychiatrists with different ideas about methods of treatment. He also meets a friend and a girl who visits him, and from the start his mind is bent on escaping.

There are some problems with the film. First: in the other Franju films I've seen, "Judex" and "Nuits Rouges", neither the characters or the action seems believable. Sometimes it feels rather cartoon-ish. This may suite the plot and characters in the latter movies fine. But in "Head against the wall" it seems like Franju wants to say something important about real society and/or psychiatry. For me this did not work out 100%. Also, the difference between the two schools of psychiatry is not explained or dramatized in a very interesting way. All we know is that Dr Varmont wants to keep the patients locked up for life, while Dr Emery wants to let them do whatever they like. Ok, so Dr Varmont is cold and cruel and Dr Emery is humane and progressive...

Anyway, the film is not bad. The plot is not predictable and some scenes are well made. It's worth seeing if you are interested in Franju or french cinema pre-new wave. Or in films about psychiatry.

In the extra material Jean-Pierre Mocky, who plays the young man, says that the film was/is considered a masterpiece and that it is still shown on psychiatry convents. Well, I can believe the latter but not the former statement. Mocky seems to have been chosen to be director of the film from the beginning, but then it went to Franju. Mocky directed some parts while Franju was sick, so that it was/is unclear whether it's a Mocky film or a Franju film. Well, at least the MoC cover goes for Franju. There is also an interview with the actor/singer Charles Aznavour that unfortunately is too unstructured. And as usual a booklet with information about the film and about Franju.

The picture/transfer is ok, stable but maybe a little hazy sometimes.

Being committed
Being committed to a psychiatric ward is also called "colocation" . The film shows us how a son's behaviour doesn't suit his father, with the help of the family doctor he has his son colocated. One could think that this only could happen a while ago, here for the movie one talks about "post war" psychiatry, while in reality it still was done in 1970! And then too, it was not hard to have someone committed who was standing in your way! Fathers indeed "loved" his son or daughter so much that they found there was need for "a cure" to break the will and change the caracter of their child. It mostly happened around the ages of 17 or 18 when puberty had its effect on behaviour, way of thinking and of course rebellion against authority. It is only quite recent that psychiatry has taken another point of view and colocation nowadays only happens under the authority of the law, for instance when crime is committed or when the person is a danger to him or herself, for instance by failure of suicide! The story we see in the movie really happened to the author of the book of the same title. LA TETE CONTRE LES MURS is the following story of LE NOEUD THE VIPERES and tells us mostly about the relationship with his mother. I personaly have known 2 people who had the misadventure of collocation thanks to their father. One was a boy of 19 and the other a woman who had spend 20 years in collocation and only got out at the age of 41 after her father died!! The misery of it, the nightmare that goes on and on is well elaborated in this film and one cannot do else than to feel anger towards the parent and the shrink and deep compassion towards the "victim" Indeed, in that predicament one runs with the head against a concrete wall and cannot break it down, whatever one tries!