Le Trou

Name: Le Trou
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime
Released: 1960-03-18
Duration: 132 min
Rating: 3
Cast: Jean Minisini, Michel Constantin, Philippe Leroy, Marcel Rouzé, Marc Michel

Poor Gaspard...

Rating

3.0 (1)

Release Date

3/18/1960

Runtime

132 mins

Genres

Thriller Drama Crime

Overview

Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.

Status

Released

Original Language

French

Budget

Revenue

$33,187

Homepage

How It Feels

Read from this film's synopsis, keywords and credits, and used to work out what it sits beside.

A methodical, suffocating nail-biter that watches four prisoners and a newcomer execute their escape plan with meticulous detail over three days. The tension comes not from spectacle but from the relentless weight of confinement and the knowledge that any moment of miscalculation could destroy everything.

Mood

TenseClaustrophobicDread-soakedBleak

Themes

FreedomFriendshipSurvival

Tone

Matter-of-fact

Pacing

Slow-burn

Look

Black and whiteDocumentary-likeNaturalistic

Structure

Linear

Heads up

Graphic violence

Michel Constantin

Geo Cassine

Jean Keraudy

Roland Darban

Philippe Leroy

Manu Borelli

Raymond Meunier

Vossellin / Monseigneur

Marc Michel

Claude Gaspard

Jean-Paul Coquelin

Le lieutenant Grinval

André Bervil

Le directeur de la prison

Eddy Rasimi

Bouboule

Philippe Dumat

Un gardien

Albert Augier

Un gardien

Jean Becker

Un gardien

Raymond Bour

Un gardien

Reviews

nicolascagegoons

Aug 27, 2026

A tricky film because the film making and cinematography are great but I felt the film overall was lacking on character and its writing.
The film is obviously about imprisonment and its nature to not have any progress matter in rehabilitation but most of these characters had almost nothing to rehabilitate about nor Caspar all that much. Maybe I just don't get it but the cinematography and performances are all great. I was a bit confused by the camera placements in the first hour since we mostly spent time in a cell yet the cell weirdly feels like it seems to grow and shrink due to the camera placement sometimes.
(Watch my feature films <a href="https://boxd.it/dNvKo1">kodak</a> and <a href="https://boxd.it/cQ1mBp">biarkan aku ganti</a> )

Le Trou1960

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