Head Against the Wall

Plot

François, motherless son of an influential lawyer, has no qualifications and no job. To mix with rich and superficial friends, he has borrowed money that he cannot repay. In desperation, he breaks into his father's desk, steals his cash and wantonly burns his legal documents. Rather than call in the police, with the connivance of a doctor his father has him committed to an isolated psychiatric hospital in the country.

There he discovers that many of the inmates are not seriously deranged but that Dr Varmont, the head of the institution, is a man of rigid views. Two friends he makes are Lenoir, a criminal hiding from gangland revenge, and Heurtevent, a gentle epilectic. To his joy, on the first Sunday he has a visitor: this is Stéphanie, a girl he met on his last night of freedom, who knows he is not insane and urges him to get a grip of his life. His father visits after he tells Dr Varmont he wants to be reconciled, but the meeting is a failure and release seems remote. With Heurtevent he breaks out, but when his friend collapses in an epilectic fit the two are recaptured. In despair, Heurtevent hangs himself.

As the hospital cemetery is outside the walls, François plans another escape during the funeral. Lenoir gives him an address in Paris where he can get a bed and a job. Making a successful getaway, he calls at the address to find it is an illegal gambling den. Unsure if that is a world he wants to be in, he goes unanounced to Stéphanie's room, where she welcomes him and they spend the night together. In the morning two plainclothes men call, to be told by Stéphanie she knows nothing of his whereabouts. As soon as they have gone François slips out and, caught by them on the stairs, is rushed back to the asylum.

Production

Cast

Soundtrack

Long after the film's original release, in February 2005, the French soundtrack record label Play Time released the soundtrack on compact disc along with other soundtracks performed by Maurice Jarre. This also includes soundtracks from other Franju films including Eyes Without a Face and Thérèse Desqueyroux.

Track listing

All music composed by Maurice Jarre.