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 French 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.
I wish I could watch every movie ever made but I sadly don't have the time. I'm not interested in this movie because I don't think I'll like it or don't know enough about it to think I might like it. I may still end up seeing it some day though.
The crowning achievement of Robert Bresson's career. French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard put it best when he said the film was "the world in an hour and a half". If I had to pick a film that could encapsulate most of my spiritual convictions, "Balthazar" and Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line"(1998) would be the only two contenders.....that argues for something special, when the cinema can articulate someone's intangible qualities.
Wow, if there's a definition for a pretension and boring as hell film to watch for film class this is it. I don't give a damn about this donkey or the soul-less characters around him. I literally struggled to keep my sanity watching this.
weird as hell, that kind of movie that you have to say that you liked it in order to be smart, but the reality is that I didn't understand anything and it bored me to tears :( in fact I really fell asleep.
Nestor and Small One the same. By reading what the film is about, It seems as if the ideas from Nestor and Small One both came from this film. Nestor is about a misfit donkey much like Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, and Small One being to old to keep parody the abuse of the donkey (Nestor) and the owner who loved him (Small One).
Upon mentioning the word 'minimalist' concerning Bresson to a filmmaker he rebuked me, saying that there is nothing minimal about Bresson's images, but in fact they are among the purist in cinema. In a film where the protagonist is a donkey and it is famous/infamous for its lack of dialogue and expression, 'Balthazar' moves one to the verge of despair and sadness through the unquestionable beauty of its images. To accuse a film of being too filmic seems absurd, but Bresson is often labelled as boring and difficult. His images, however, tell stories that do not need words.
This was a very strange film for me to watch. For one, the performances were extremely bare, robotic, their reactions were always towards a character, not to what a character was doing. It was quite strange but I think he did this to somehow show the brutality of this world, where we ignore a lot of wrong-doings or jus any doings, though we might be aware, but we ourselves only react to the mnost outright of reactions. Also, the closely parellel stories of suffering of both the donkey and the girl wa really interesting. The way they have to take it and their relationships witht the chracters they meet and their own emotions, the false pride of the father, the ridiculous rebelliousness of the girl and so on. A beautiful film, should be watched again one day.
i found this for the most part to be very unpleasant...something about a donkey as a metaphor didnt click with me...i could only feel disdain for this creature and could careless about the peoples lives he wondered into but only disgust at the abuse they subject on this beast of burden...this is the most disappointing film ive seen from Bresson and has that same see saw pacing as Pickpocket that just got on my nerves and it has everything to do with the editing choices...still the film had some strong moments but mostly just blah ones
One of the most profound, effective and intelligent work of art in the history of cinema. Not only a key film in Bresson's filmography but also an important manifest on the multiple meaning of the Christian Faith and the human being.
This is one of my top 10 films and I would review it except that I think this film has such a subjective power that your experience will be unique to you. Watch it with fear and trembling; Bresson's transcendental style evokes the symbolic divine in this naturalistic tale of life. I cry once every two years and only to clean my tear ducts, but they had an orgasm for this film - which in itself is high praise. Don't miss this film: it is a lifetime experience.
Possibly the best film ever made. This film has so many levels it is incomprehensible to embrace them all in the initial viewing. Bresson has created something that will never be intimitated again. What one grasps from it is profound. Bresson shows us that life is unique and something that cannot be discarded.
Could this be the best movie ever made? Yes. Yes it could. The most common interpretation of Balthazar is that it's a thinly veiled allegory of the life and death of Christ, which is right in keeping with Bresson's deeply Catholic worldview, but most reviewers tend to overlook the slyly gnostic undertones that pervade the film. Of course, it's senseless to talk about one of Bresson's films having great performances since he refused to let his "models" act. (Bresson was known to reshoot the same sequence up to 50 times until the performers moved and spoke without any inflection or pretense). But it is the utter lack of artifice in Bresson's film that provides this picture with a subtle grace that mirrors the stoic dignity of its long-suffering protagonist.
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