{"id":53549,"date":"2026-06-18T15:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=53549"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T20:56:53","slug":"la-tete-contre-les-muirs-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/18\/la-tete-contre-les-muirs-1958\/","title":{"rendered":"La Tete Contre Les Muirs [1958] [Radiance Blu-Ray LE]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A wild young man finds himself in an asylum in Georges Franju\u2019s gripping 1959 La Tete Contre les Murs, soon on Blu-ray via Radiance Films.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radiance continues to bring me into pockets of film history I\u2019m not so well-versed in. With La Tete Contre les Murs [Head Against the Wall in English] and Solo, both releasing on June 23rd, they\u2019re working on my knowledge of Jean Pierre-Mocky. Mocky is a multi-hyphenate, producer-writer-director-actor-editor-more(!) I\u2019ve previously seen him in his 1982 folk horror Litan<\/a> (in the second All the Haunts Be Ours<\/a> box), but was not too aware of his work before and after the New Wave.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

La T\u00eate Contre les Muir is a film Mocky made with Georges Franju, just before Truffaut<\/a>, Godard<\/a>, and the rest kicked off the Nouvelle Vague<\/a>, but it feels like it could be part of the overall cycle. Franju is a name many of this site\u2019s readers may be aware of as genre fans (since so much of what we do is horror). He directed the classic The Eyes Without a Face next, and that film holds up as an exercise in uneasy tension, still effective after 60 years. Le Tete Contre les Murs was his first film, after notable disturbing documentary short films, and while not a horror film, it is an effective and incredibly well put together picture; with its subject and space only a few steps away from the sort he was known for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mocky, who wrote the film and pushed the novel adaptation from Herve Bazin, and was the driving force of the project, stars as Francois Gerane, a wild child young man roving around with his motorcycle, gambling, and being a general rebel without a cause. After meeting a girl he really digs, Stefanie, as played by 8 \u00bd\u2019s Anouk Amiee, he finally crosses the line with thieving from his father. A father with money and power who gets Francois locked away in an asylum. In said asylum, he meets a variety of people and sees that any preconceptions of the people inside are wrong. The doctors within, two with different outlooks played by Eyes Without Face\u2019s Pierre Brasseur (Edith Scob, that film\u2019s titular character is also here) and Diabolique\u2019s Paul Meurisse, become a sort of mouthpiece for mental health care, while Francois tries to escape and take control of his life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Le Tete talks a lot about how society and the medical profession deal with mental illness, big actions in youth, and just how people meld or don\u2019t with society and the rules. Are they just to be locked away, hidden from society, to wither behind bars? Or to be worked with and reintegrated. What recourse do people have to speak for themselves or others? For our hero, he\u2019s just a wild child with a powerful father, but he needs to get his head on his shoulders. For others, they have a melancholy but not a real danger, others a danger in the right conditions, and others incurable. It\u2019s a complicated relationship on how it all works.\u00a0 In many ways, Le Tete is a precursor to One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest, as novelized by Ken Kesey and filmed by Milos Forman, shining a light in an area purposely darkened by society. Within, Franzu makes a strong drama with layered characters, a strong look, and a sense of feeling for those ignored.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mocky is very good, engaging, and worthy of the star he had then and continues. But the notable is singer Charles Aznavour, known as the Frank Sinatra of France. He gives a hell of a performance, compassionate and heartfelt as a lost soul stuck inside for epilepsy.<\/span><\/p>\n

La Tete Contre Les Murs is a fascinating feature of strong characters, a great look, and a fantastic lead in Mocky.<\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The Packaging<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radiance Films<\/a> offers La Tete in a single-disc Blu-ray (its first time). It comes in a shortened clear case, with the disc on one side and the booklet on the other. It has a reversible sleeve with new designs based on the original posters. A removable OBI strip contains the relevant information on one side of the sleeve and allows a clear image. Limited to 3000. Spine #177<\/span><\/p>\n

The Presentation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Absolutely gorgeous with a gloriously detailed sharpness in the 4k restoration by Eclair Classics, supervised by Mocky Delicious Products. The audio, in French with English subtitles, is uncompressed PCM mono.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

Radiance<\/a> has a handful of solid features to help build the world around the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jean Pierre Mocky (2008)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mocky gives a detailed, impressive history of the film. He talks of why he worked with Franju and how that collaboration works, and also to the hidden world of the asylums. (10m) In French<\/span><\/p>\n

Georges Franju and Charles Aznavour (1958)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Two contemporary interviews. Director Franju takes questions from a pushy, weirdly dismissive interviewer about transferring from short film to features, his process, and how he feels about the film. Aznavour talks about taking the stage personally and transferring his energy to film. (12m)<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Eric le Roy (2023, for Esc Editions)\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Le Roy gets into the details of Mocky to this point, his star, his career, and how that all led to this film. A fascinating and in-depth appreciation that taught me a great deal about the film world of France at this point, the film’s effect on society as the first to put a camera in asylums, and more (as much as I know about New Wave, there\u2019s always more) (26m)<\/span><\/p>\n

Booklet<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 28-page booklet features a cast\/crew\/photos and a 1967 writing by Raymond Durgnat, excepted from his book about Georges Franju. The writing is an indepth, informative deconstruction of the film’s approach and how the personalities worked together.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n

La T\u00eate Contre Les Murs, directed by Georges Franju and spearheaded by Jean-Pierre Mocky, is a fine picture, highlighting both the burgeoning New Wave, the contemporary world of France, and a fascinating character portrait of the lost rebelliousness of the Silent Generation. The Radiance Films release looks great, and another great look into the corners of film history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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