X
- 1966
- Not Rated
- 1 h 35 m
- 1966
- Not Rated
- 1 h 35 m
Summary Robert Bresson's 1966 film focuses on the story of the donkey Balthazar and the people around him.
Directed By: Robert Bresson
Written By: Robert Bresson
- 1966
- Not Rated
- 1 h 35 m
- 1966
- Not Rated
- 1 h 35 m
Au hasard Balthazar
7.0
Summary Robert Bresson's 1966 film focuses on the story of the donkey Balthazar and the people around him.
Directed By: Robert Bresson
Written By: Robert Bresson
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
98
95% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
5% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
98
95% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
5% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Simultaneously enigmatic and painfully direct, melodramatic yet subtle, playful yet tragic, Au Hasard Balthazar is a deeply moving portrait of the sins and mercies of mankind as seen and suffered by an ass. [30 Jul 2004, p.E03]
Truly one of the most emotionally devastating films to have ever graced the big screen, Au Hasard Balthazar is an exemplary example of Bresson’s art that transcends its symbolic reverie to Christianity to become an eloquent prayer for the potential power of cinema to truly move us.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 116 User Ratings
7.0
71% Positive
82 Ratings
82 Ratings
9% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
21% Negative
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 116 User Ratings
7.0
71% Positive
82 Ratings
82 Ratings
9% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
21% Negative
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
Au hazard Balthazar in every frame has exceptional morality, intimidating representation of humanity as a whole manifesting in the grotesque nature of people getting satisfaction over dominants over animals! Opening in a delicate arrangement of piano notes interrupted by a donkey’s whaling cries (possibly Balthazar’s birth.), then back to the melancholy piano to the titles in a crumpled-up background. The very first shot is of young Balthazar feeding on his mother already representing the beginning of life, nurturing, and the miracle of creation. A hand slowly stroking Balthazar’s content back is Marie the woman in form of kindness wanting a friend to keep but over her shoulder a stern father, stating no in his heavy authority. Already the film has shown us the cruel, unjust yet reasonable dissections of the world. A family of loving kids represents childhood playing with the donkey in the hay, a excises in poetry shot of a swinging chair, and in the background grooming the donkey. Baptizing represents religion, love heart engraved on a bench, the cruelness of whipping, hard labor, being materialized and hooves metal is all extremely scary from Balthazar’s perspective of the world. Pitch folks chase like Frankenstein starts leading Balthazar's journey finding open gates almost like it's presenting a passage from hell to heaven. Strikingly shot, purposefully cruel characters looking down upon the donkey with no feelings. Fate made a hay intensity inducing sounds of rattling carriages to build tension and then silence with slowly creeping low piano keys lifting the moods. Youth is destroyed, and innocence vanished by the darkness of the world. Illness is presented by a bedridden small girl strangely feeding the donkey salt. Balthazar cheers up the children as the essence of childhood is fully captured in one short sequence. Only 9 minutes into the feature and already Au Hasard Balthazar has almost covered everything wrong and right about humans, that’s why this is one of the grandest films ever made. I was being reached on an emotional, thought-provoking level hardly any films give me. The main piano score music plays then rudely interrupted by a loud tractor representing the hard work humans go through to get to what everyone wants out of life, love, affection, safety, and purpose. We work because we have to serve society unless you’re ill seen early into the film. Marie represents many important aspects of society's statures femininity, beauty, pure-hearted, and gentleness but she’s placed within a terrifying circle of evilness. A brutal transition from Marie and her kind father to a gang of motorbike hoodlums pouring oil on the ground represents to me the endless void of crime in a saddening world. Balthazar with dread on his face is about to face bullying, the gang is going to pursue them but the audience already knows before something happens as Bresson's direction is flawless. Hardly any dialog is spoken in the first thirty minutes almost acting like a silent feature. The gang's first response is “A donkey neat, that's modern.”. The biker winks at the woman then the father without causing trouble (being outnumbered) whips the donkey quickly. Animals sense bad people but the bikers follow them as the left open the gates of heaven. The demons so to speak take revenge for not being noticed or feeding into their childish antics. Slowly walking Marie looks for leaves just like Balthazar looked for to eat in scenes prior is reflecting on Marie and Balthazar that they are both the same. They are beautiful, same morals, and live within a problematic world. Marie makes Balthazar a pretty flower, leaf coved crown almost like in the bible in a humble scene. Balthazar's expression is poignant he’s cleanly crying with joy looking back at her as she sits down to 10 seconds of silents apart from crickets. Suddenly she’s Powerless peaking through the narrow door watching in dismay of incoming trouble. Building again Bresons techie focuses on hands and feet shots for tension The shot slowly the biker hands slide ominously across the once scared bench of childhood hopes and dreams. He tries to touch her so she runs into the house as Balthazar is involved in horrific Dragging, nipping, taunting, and punching. Transitioning to choirs in church praying for god then the evil biker is there who will sing to bells ringing like the donkeys being a reminder. Bullying Balthazar continues, father in trouble from rumors then the camera moves inwards to Balthazar as a sign of heavy Obligation. Marie is too scared to make Gerald's crew escape the police but Balthazar is shot! We are empathizing with his sense of cold alarming doom. Balthazar’s final sacrament is phenomenal as I cried at the ending which is very rare for me, that’s how powerful the waves of sheep, bell sounds, and death of the saint donkey impacted me.
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I was working at a DME about ten years ago and a lady I was working with loved the movies as much as me. I turned her on Mulholland Drive, which she LOVED. I had her watch Vertigo and she was underwhelmed. But what flabbergasted me was that she HATED Balthazar, which to me is incomprehensible. And she was a very spiritual woman-she hated the word "religous" but she was an ordained minister of some sort( I myself have a very weak faith). If ever there were a movie that would make you think about God's existence and the serenity that that thought provides, this is it. There simply aren't words to describe.
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If one were looking for a perfectly realized film, Au Hasard Balthazar would be as likely a candidate as any. For every convention of film grammar and narrative that this 50-year-old masterpiece utilizes, it uses strictly on its own terms, discarding many more.
The final scene of Balthazar's demise is one of cinema's most moving and haunting moments.
To cut to the chase, Robert Bresson's heart-breaking and magnificent Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) -- the story of a donkey's life and death in rural France -- is the supreme masterpiece by one of the greatest of 20th-century filmmakers.
Imbued with a dry, ironic sense of humour, the film is perhaps the director's most perfectly realised, and certainly his most moving.
It's a meditation on sin and saintliness. Considered a masterpiece by some, but others may find it painstakingly tedious and offensively holy.
Balthazar is one of the best movies existing to date !!!! It is so well done produced,fantastic dialogue,the best story in movie (my opinion) do date and many more
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I read the critics reviews and couldn't wait to see this film. I cannot believe that I was watching the same film that had been so loved by all the critics.... 100/100??
This is a drab and rather boring film, the acting is poor throughout, the story-line is broken and disjointed and I really found it difficult to persevere to the end of this film without falling asleep. I can only imagine that the critics are rating this movie based upon the genre as an art-house movie, art but with few other redeeming qualities. There are some decent elements to this, but I really struggle to give it better than an average rating.
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It has some compelling scenes. It also has some pretty sloppy film-making; though on the flip-side, it's enjoyable to watch what can be accomplished on a low budget. I'm not sure I'm convinced that reflections on the pain that life can serve are more valuable than celebrations of the joy that can be found. It's interesting, but to my mind, not great.
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The discussion about Bresson has already been laid out between his fans who “get it” and the minority –to which I belong - within the minority of cinema viewers who actually care about art cinema, or Bresson for that matter, that hate Bresson with a passion. I hate Bresson for the same reasons others hate him: he makes films not to be enjoyed but to be endured, while forcing his worldview upon you. This, coming from a person who appreciates Bergman, Bunuel, Dreyer, Ozu and Godard, and who liked Jeanne Dillman and the Turin Horse. I can safely say Bresson is the only world wide acclaimed artistic director I can’t appreciate in any way. So he defies convention and tells the truth, great, if it were true, since he necessarily selects the facts to be presented in order to advance his view, rejects any moments of joy or pleasure, and presents a quite unreal world, like for example Gerard trashing the town bar while the other patrons keep dancing in Balthazar. So you show a donkey been beaten and that is considered moving, well, as others have pointed out, I can place a camera in front of beaten or abused animals and be moving, **** he breaks convention, excellent, if it translates into something interesting. Like someone else said, watch “Empire” by Warhol if you want to see a film breaking conventions. Hell, watch Jeanne Dillman, a film I very much enjoyed even with its length, dark view and non drama. So he rejects acting and casts non-professionals to deliver their lines looking at the floor, outstanding, if in some way I could understand the significance of this method. I’ve seen Balthazar twice, the second time in order to see if I had missed something, but no, there it was again, this extremely dry, pessimistic world, this uncomfortable, humorless and painful viewing experience, with nothing to pique your interest or stimulate your brain except that life is hell and then you die. Quite simply, Bresson bores me while annoying me to death. His movies are, like someone else said, “**** punch(es) to the gut”.
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Simply disliked it, however, everyone say itervs just awesome, My wife and I don't think so, I felt asleep, however, I must say that the acting and the effects are... good... I think so... or maybe bad.
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Production Company
Argos Films,
Athos Films,
Parc Film,
Svensk Filmindustri (SF),
Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI)
Release Date Sep 16, 1966
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Awards
Venice Film Festival
• 4 Wins & 5 Nominations
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cahiers du Cinéma
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
