Le Trou (Douban 9.0): Flatly Told or Tightly Layered?

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jacques Becker’s 1960 prison‑break classic Le Trou has long been hailed as the template of the genre. On the question of who betrayed the escape, some viewers take the film at face value and conclude Claude was the informant; others insist that a masterpiece must be full of foreshadowing and riddles we failed to catch, implying someone else. Which is it? Let’s peel back the layers.

The warden meets Claude four times.

• First: Claude hides a lighter and is reported by a cellmate. After the guards confiscate it, the warden responds politely and even calls him a “good boy.” Their first meeting.
• Second: After Claude’s visit with his sister‑in‑law, he takes a wrong turn in panic and the warden helps him out of the awkward spot, asking his name. This shows they did not know each other before, which rules out the theory that the warden masterminded the escape plot.
• Third: The next day, the warden informs Claude that his wife has withdrawn her complaint. Facing a choice—flee via escape or wait for withdrawal—Claude chooses to wait. At this point he reveals the escape to the warden. The clues are in the staging: the warden phones the floor chief to come to his office; the director cuts to an empty shot and a long labor scene outside the door, implying a lengthy talk among the warden, Claude, and the floor chief. After sending Claude off, the floor chief returns to discuss details again, underscoring the gravity of the matter.
• Fourth: At the arrest, the warden doesn’t even look at Claude before throwing him into a new cell. When a guard glances back toward Claude, Manu reacts, and Claude blurts out first—confirming that he was indeed the informant.

Le Trou is an early‑period industrial film with straightforward storytelling. It is called the greatest escape movie not because of intricately planted hints, but because it uses documentary methods to realistically reenact the craft and detail of breaking out.

Published at: Sep 13, 2025 · Modified at: Sep 13, 2025