Based on Albertine Sarrazin's book , it is ,like "l'astragale" (1968) ,an autobiographic story ;whereas "l'astragale" depicts live of a convict after her escape, "la cavale" ,in spite of its title (=on the run) depicts life in women jail ,warts and all.
The writer spent 8 years of her short life (she died at 29) in jail ; both her books became best-sellers after her death in 1967 ;"l'astragale" owed a big deal to Marlene Jobert who transcended Guy Casaril 's flat direction ; in Michel Mitrani's 1971 movie, character actress Juliet Berto is well cast for Sarrazin (Annick) was an intellectual ,an anomaly in the world of these female convicts coming all from poor backgrounds,coarse, even racist (see how they welcome the Algerian convict).
Sarrazin came from a well-to-do milieu (her father was an officer) but she did not have a happy life for all that :her uncle raped her when she was a child ,and she took a rebel stand as soon as she was a teenager :her father had her imprisoned in a reformatory and her life was a succession of prisons .The lawyer was not wrong when he told the judge they (Annick and her boyfriend Julien) got a raw deal .
Although the movie begins with both lovers in a police van,en route to the prison ,the movie focuses on her life in prison (the man is almost absent in the first hour ) ;as an inmate , Annick found it hard to obey the rude wardens' orders and the fly-on-the-wall account of carceral life is ruthless ;and athough she makes friends with her mates ,there's even hints at her bisexuality, an intellectual (she wrote a lot in prison, it was her loophole) can barely relate to these girls devoid of education. There's one exception:the prisoner played by Genevieve Page ("Belle de jour" "the private life of Sherlock Holmes" )is also an anomaly :with her aristocratic looks and her low-pitched voice she could have provided Annick with a counterpart ,but her part is sadly too short.
Writing , and her love for Julien are Annick's raison d'être ;I think that Horst Bucholz was a better Julien in "l' astragale "than good-looking Jean-Claude Bouillon in "la cavale" ,there's no real chemistry between him and Berto,although the wedding and the mayor's gaffe are good moments.
