Au Hasard Balthazar poster & wallpaper

Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge, Nathalie Joyaut, Philippe Asselin`, Walter Green

The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.

Flixster Users

88% liked it

5,207 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

28 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 31 min.

Directed by: Robert Bresson

Release Date: May 25, 1966

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: June 14, 2005

Stats: 321 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Au Hasard Balthazar
Upload a Photo |

View All Au Hasard Balthazar Photos (1)

Your Rating


clear rating
Facebook

Flixster Reviews (321)

  • SirPant
    September 30, 2009
    SirPant
    Jean-Luc Godard said Au Hasard Balthazar was "the world in an hour and a half" and he was right. Through watching the life of a donkey we witness all the good and the bad things that make us human. Love, Cruelty, regret, despair and hope. I know the film is about saintliness and ...( read more)many people find it spiritual but the realism for me is enough for me to be uplifted and heartbroken by this film every time i watch it, which i make sure is quite regularly!
  • emerson17
    April 21, 2009
    emerson17
    This work would not feel out of place among the greatest pictures spawned by the likes of Bergman or Bunuel; surprisingly enough, it's widely bold for its time and its moral statement still appear relevent 30 years after its original release.
  • shortcartoonist
    August 11, 2008
    shortcartoonist
    Bresson's cinematic entry into the immoralities of man succeeds greatly in its qualities of filmmaking, but falls far in its quest for delivering a film of truth and power. Following the life of a mistreated animal, we bare the labours of a donkey through its traversing of the Fr...( read more)ench countryside. But through this harsh treatment, the animalistic nature of the townsfolk is deepened - not only to the laboured steed, but to the intermingling of the people. The film pushes hard to unearth the depths of man and our ability to degrade those around us, but the emotion that the film tries to illicit simply doesn't come through, mainly due to Bresson's over exaggeration of these people (it seems every man and his dog bares no moral fibre) and his constant contradictions in society through his wayward storytelling (longtime care suddenly turning to soured resentment).

    At a base level, Au Hasard Balthazar is audacious, strong filmmaking with much to be learnt from. But its persistance becomes overbearing and its bleak qualities turn blank, overturning a film that overstays its course. But with that notion in mind, the films final shot is almost worth baring the drabness of before it.
  • Jungian
    July 27, 2008
    Jungian
    a great film about a donkey but manages to contain more about humanity and life and death than a great deal of films ive seen.
  • bort16
    October 11, 2006
    bort16
    A quiet masterpiece revolving around a mistreated donkey.
  • catbox9
    November 16, 2009
    catbox9
    Robert Bresson's Au hasard Balthazar is the story of a girl and a donkey named Balthazar. The film follows the two of them over many years from the donkey's birth until its death. The girl is the original owner of the donkey but it changes owners many times over the course of its...( read more) life. Some owners are better than others but they all have flaws. The girls life seems to parallel the donkeys life.

    While not immensely popular, this film is generally well-received. French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard said "this film is really the world in an hour and a half." Personally, I wasn't all that impressed with the film. While it certainly had its fair share of artistic merit, it just wasn't very interesting. I didn't particularly care about the donkey and I certainly didn't care about the girl.

    60.5/100
    D-
  • ElCochran90
    October 17, 2009
    ElCochran90
    "God does not foresake forever. He may punish, yet he will have compassion. He does not willingly afflict the children of men."

    AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (1966)


    Director: Robert Bresson
    Country: France
    Genre: Crime / Drama
    ...( read more)>Length: 95 minutes

    Photobucket


    Before the French New Wave could be formally established, a director named Robert Bresson suddenly appears for the sake of French cinema and starts to consolidate his overwhelmingly unusual direction style, a style that would earn him worldwide recognition and a strong Catholic sensation throughout his filmography that first began in 1951 with his film Journal d'un Curé de Campagne (1951) and that would be utterly strengthened with a possibly intentional human condition trilogy consisting of his three most powerful masterpieces: Pickpocket (1959), Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette (1967). Au Hasard Balthazar is arguably his definite and most representative cinematic masterwork and his most emotionally compelling piece of work. Representing the second part of a trilogy, Bresson, perhaps forcedly, attempts to create an epiphany and self-reflection for the film's varied and challenging audience through an element that could be related to the religion of Catholicism and that could easily be a reflection (or a clear representation) of purity, innocence and transcendence, a main purpose that would be mirrored with the character Mouchette in his next film.

    Intentionally, Au Hasard Balthazar follows the story of an unfairly mistreated donkey, initially christened under the name of Balthazar, that goes through different hardships it inevitably has to face as it is being passed from owner to owner, becoming a beast of burden. Its chaotic events that lack all sense of peace and justice are paralleled with those of Marie, the first owner of Balthazar, who also is brutally injured, physically and psychologically, by the force of fate. Robert Bresson won the OCIC Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1966.

    Bresson's seemingly simple direction style can be justly classified as an underlying epitome of giant dramatic proportions rather than unrealistically dull. His beautifully composed frames and almost surrealistically written screenplays consequently represent the complexity of life itself, a life that tends to be crueler and more complicated as our own preconception tends to perceive it. Perhaps unconsciously having directing characteristics of the ones Jean Cocteau (La Belle et la Bête [1946], Orphée [1950]) and Henri-Georges Clouzot (Le Salaire de la Peur [1953], Les Diaboliques [1955]) possessed, Bresson focuses more on the plot development and the catastrophic consequences that human actions tend to attract, whether we are ready to accept them or not. Just as the proudly European filmmaker Bresson is, his greatly noticeable Catholic influence is used as a positively cooperative factor that only serves to enlighten its shocking, but true message. Purity and innocence will have everlasting life.

    The witty and skillful editing present in Pickpocket (1959) is finally simplified, but beautified at the same time, contrasting its natural fluency with an even improved cinematography, thanks to the remarkable work of Ghislain Cloquet (Nuit et Brouillard [1955], Love and Death [1975]). A most poetical soundtrack is offered for the first time within Bresson's filmography, resorting to both cinematic classical music and the Piano Sonata No. 20, by Franz Schubert, an unusual technique considering the director. This element only helped to heighten the honesty of the feature film, contrasting the modern times (in the case of the film, the 60's) with rural landscapes depicting a simpler life, yet also irrevocably corrupted, thus daringly portraying the human nature. Once more, Bresson seeks naturalness in his cast formed by nonprofessional actors. Curiously enough, the performances did not end up in stiffness and unrealism, but in honesty and fully developed characters, including the untrained donkey, an animal that became a real challenge for the director to handle.

    Stepping aside from the French New Wave in a similar way Alain Resnais (Hiroshima mon Amour [1959], L'Année Dernière à Marienbad [1961]) did, Bresson intended to construct an influential and independent oeuvre. Passing from Dostoyevskyan literary inspirations to the undeniable power of the true religion, Au Hasard Balthazar is no more than a powerful essay on saintliness and Catholicism, not mentioning a project that passionately supported transcendence and virtue. Without being a strictly religious film, the donkey Balthazar is used as an element of injustice, resembling a Christlike figure, a living being that suffered and was mistreated thanks to the sins of man, but that bravely and nobly accepts its unstoppable destiny. Marie is not a character name being by coincidence, since such statement is strengthened by the fact that Marie is its first owner, the one that baptized Balthazar and is inevitably separated from his "son". The fortitude of the easily corruptible human soul is masterly mirrored by an animal, leading to the conclusion that human beings are animal beings as well from a biological (and spiritual) point of view, despite our ability to develop intellect. It is this same intellect and exaggerated feeling of self-empowerment the one that leads to a catastrophic corruption of the spirit, thus executing a fascist and manipulative will over those individuals that, under our false and pretentious perspective, are inferior to us.

    As a part of a trilogy, it is a very interesting chapter. Culminating with one of the most beautiful endings ever filmed along with Mouchette (1967), Au Hasard Balthazar has two very different protagonists. Whereas the fate of Marie is left unclear, the fate of Balthazar is not, a fate that is completely surrounded by a Gospel-like symbolic connotation where the lambs seemingly accompany Balthazar in a heartbreaking ending sequence. People are described by Jesus as confused lambs without a shepherd, being God the shepherd of his sons. Mary does not accompany Jesus during his passion; Marie departs ways with Balthazar. Whereas Michel's fate in Pickpocket (1959) is also left to uncertainty, Mouchette's fate is tragically shown on the face of the spectator in a wonderful parable form of trial and error. Skeptical people also sought Jesus in order to see Him perform miracles and understand what they were not meant to understand, Faith being a concept that surpassed their comprehension. Balthazar is, in one particular sequence, used as a form of circus entertainment and amazement.

    As an obvious middle chapter and certainly the most reflexive, Bresson wrote and directed a powerful commentary against the non-modifiable influence of a surrounding society, no matter where it is located. It is the saintliness and the strength of the human spirit the one that can be used as the most powerful and non-harmful weapon against a world that has already submitted itself to sadism and injustice. That is why Au Hasard Balthazar is one of the most heartbreaking and influential French films of all time. Ultimately, it is an unforgettable movie and a strikingly prophetic filmmaking sample of Claude Berri's Jean de Florette (1986).

    100/100
  • cinemikeinfrance
    July 29, 2009
    cinemikeinfrance
    "Stands alone atop one of the loftiest pinnacles of artistically realised emotional experiences" (Sarris). I cnanot say it better.
  • soulstirrings
    July 28, 2009
    soulstirrings
    The film tells a haunting story of farm girl Marie & her donkey - Balthazar. Balthazar is born into servitude, a life of suffering & pain. Bresson uses a an innocuous donkey to reflect upon life's despair & virtue. There are marked but subtle references to spiritualism & theme of...( read more) transcendence. The beauty of this film lies in it's simplicity & minimalist approach. The cursed fate of the girl & her donkey probes the various facets of decaying humanity in it's bare form.

    Stunning camera work & minimal dialogue mingled with poetic realism gives the viewer's a most profound & engaging cinematic experience. Despite it's spiritual & transcendental themes the plot never strays away from realism as the director gives an unpretentious reflection of life's despair & sins. It also has one of the most poignant endings which leaves its imprint on the viewer's mind.
  • g0y
    July 18, 2009
    g0y
    Finely directed and acted. Great black-and-white shots but any Biblical allegories the film relies on are baseless and emotionally vapid.

View All Au Hasard Balthazar Reviews

Critic Reviews

April 9, 2004
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Quietly devastating, nearly perfect allegory. full review

March 19, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Bresson is one of the saints of the cinema, and Au Hasard Balthazar is his most heartbreaking prayer. full review

View more Au Hasard Balthazar reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Au Hasard Balthazar" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Mouchette
    Mouchette (100%)
  • District 9
    District 9 (17%)
  • Pickpocket
    Pickpocket (80%)

More Movies like Au Hasard Balthazar

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Au Hasard Balthaz... : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Au Hasard Balthazar. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Au Hasard Balthazar to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?