THE HOLE (1960)

There are many tense sequences worthy of biting one’s nails or experiencing one’s heartbeat quicken in Jacques Becker’s The Hole / Le Trou, but to call it thrilling doesn’t seem right. In one sense, it’s a perfectly accurate descriptor, where simply watching these characters hack away at the ground below them inspires a potent mix of wonderful and terrible excitement. At the same time, these actions are fairly mundane, little pieces of an overall plot to break out of the prison that surrounds the five men at this film’s centre. We don’t see them interact with other prisoners or any other activities that could break up their day. The monotony of prison life has been replaced by the monotony of executing their escape plan, supplemented by occasional stabs of fear at the prospect of being caught.

It would seem that this quality should only work as a detriment to this film, yet instead, screenwriters Becker, José Giovanni, and Jean Aurel do a wonderful job of yielding this to their advantage. Even great films like Alan J. Pakula’s All The President’s Men (1976), an exploration of how two newspaper reporters uncovered the Watergate scandal, suffer somewhat in their rejection of emotional resonance and human insight. An atmosphere of paranoia and scenes bubbling with tension go a long way towards investing viewers in narratives like these, but Pakula’s film still feels as if something is missing when it remains so doggedly focused on how these men navigated their assignment, and not how they also navigated their lives during this time. Their thoughts, feelings, and important relationships are all rendered void if they don’t directly connect to their investigative work and the eclipsing shadow that it turns into.

On its surface, The Hole has that very same problem, firmly sticking to the routine of Claude Gaspard (Marc Michel), Manu Borelli (Philippe Leroy), Geo Cassine (Michel Constantin), Roland Darbant (Jean Keraudy), and Vossellin (Raymond Meunier). The latter four have been planning an escape for some time since they’re all facing lengthy prison sentences (some even at risk of execution by guillotine). When Claude is sent to their cell for carrying a lighter with him (a prohibited act), it takes some time for the others to get a sense of him. Although comedy isn’t the main genre in these scenes, there’s something rather funny about them anyway. The other men must determine if Claude has committed a heinous enough crime in the eyes of the law to be tempted to break out of prison, which would grant them leeway to tell him all about the mission. It’s like an adult and far more illicit version of a group of boys at a summer cabin trying to determine if their new roommate is similar enough to them to be trusted.

The awkwardness behind this initial distrust is quickly dispelled, with the group happily letting Claude in on their plans (even if Manu, the more stand-offish member of the four, takes a bit longer for his reluctance to be worn down). The unease and discomfort that follows is spectacular, where one feels like jumping every time a thunderous noise is emitted during this attempted breakout. An ingenious invention by the group allows one of them to peer outside their cell’s peephole and determine if any guards are approaching, but the tension in these sequences is so palpable that this somehow does little to dispel it (for both the men and viewers). Becker employs a near-unbearable degree of patience in these sequences, emphasising just how much is riding on their success.

The film’s black-and-white colour palette is ideal for distilling the drudgery of prison life into its compositions, while the lack of sharp contrasts in its lighting gives viewers nothing else to focus on except the tasks at hand. Then, once our intrigue has been piqued and our powers of concentration trained to hone in on shots that get more anxiety-inducing the more they linger, the emergence of more free-flowing, rhythmic editing starts to feel chaotic.

The Hole does experience a noticeable downturn in tension once the prisoners make their way past this initial barrier, where they are greeted with far more freedom in a literal sense, even if it’s not all that meaningful. Having made their way to the floor beneath them, they must then traverse the grounds that guards sometimes walk in and out of, carve out holes in the walls and make their way to the sewer, where true freedom awaits above a manhole. The mere fact that these men have space to pace back and forth, even if it’s only at night, takes something away from the intensity of this experience. (It’s also possible that prominent films featuring prison escapes like 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, which treat erecting a hole in a cell wall as a monumental, decades-long task, whereas everything after that can be achieved within minutes, inform this perspective.)

While The Hole is still undeniably tense, this is where one must return to the monotony that overtakes this narrative. Once the first step of this mission is completed, there’s suddenly breathing room for viewers to reflect on these men and their conditions. It’s in this portion of the story that it becomes clear just how focused this film is on their efforts. We don’t know these men’s pasts, including the crimes they’ve been accused of. All we are privy to is that Claude has been wrongfully imprisoned. More insight is even offered into Claude’s crime later on, with his girlfriend’s sister revealing that her sibling may be willing to drop the bogus charges she levied against him.

Instead of making The Hole dull or giving the impression that it’s missing out on vital character developments, this approach effectively parallels the monotony of escaping this place with everyday prison life. Thrilling moments that make viewers follow these developments with bated breaths don’t change that this is a meticulous, often tedious, plan to execute. Prison might well be mind-numbing, but coming up with a way to escape this soul-crushing system isn’t all that different. Hope stirs within these men for the first time in ages, yet that doesn’t change how dismal their circumstances are.

At the same time, it’s the camaraderie formed between these five prisoners that is this film’s lifeblood. It’s so attuned to their daily lives that one hardly notices the subtle ways that their personalities are developed. By rewarding close attention to details in its unfolding plot, The Hole’s denouement is wonderfully set up, sometimes in remarkably subtle ways. When the men unleash their fury on two plumbers who stole their personal belongings, viewers get a glimpse for the first time into their inclination towards violence. After all, there’s a reason Claude was sent to this cell as punishment. But because the four men are so good-natured, cheery, and helpful to one another, it’s remarkably easy to forget that we know so little about who they are.

It makes these brief reprieves from the men’s wish fulfilment in the form of escape so meaningful. This is a film about the soul-crushing tedium of prison life, the eradication of identity, and how a person’s hopes and dreams can rest purely on escaping their circumstances. None of these five main characters are blank slates, with each of The Hole’s screenwriters cleverly interspersing their idiosyncrasies throughout its runtime. Yet the lack of background information and the monotony of their routine makes their struggle feel like a universal one.

Going back to that violent interaction between the prisoners and the two plumbers, the shot compositions do all the heavy lifting here, underscoring rifts that we might not see at first, but which are imbued with feeling all the same. One need only pay close attention to this scene and realise how well it plants the seeds for this film’s memorable ending, which is guaranteed to stick with anyone who has the pleasure of watching The Hole. There are also several sequences that, in hindsight, seem so obvious in spelling out what these developments will lead to, yet the result is so absorbing that it prohibits such reflections. You are too busy being caught in rapt attention at this story, or too lost in its emotional centre, to consider the fraying edges of this desperately insular world.

Monotony and tediousness may be hallmarks of these prisoners’ lives, which Becker is keen to reflect at all times, but rest assured that this film is never dull. Its repetitive notes always serve a wider purpose, while watching the five men’s struggles is a consistently heartfelt experience. The Hole doesn’t just serve as a fitting end to its prolific director’s career, with Becker passing away just weeks after filming was wrapped up, it’s also a timeless classic that will appeal to almost any film lover.

FRANCE • ITALY | 1960 | 132 MINUTES | 1.66:1 | BLACK & WHITE | FRENCH

Cast & Crew

director: Jacques Becker.
writers: Jacques Becker, José Giovanni & Jean Aurel (based on the 1957 novel ‘The Break’ by José Giovanni).
starring: Marc Michel, Philippe Leroy, Jean Keraudy, Raymond Meunier, André Bervil, Jean-Paul Coquelin & Eddy Rasimi.