Review of Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) by Martin N — 14 Jul 2012

Although I'm tiring of his style and the repetitive nature of his films, this is the best Bresson I've seen to date. The main character and lens through which we see other characters is the donkey Balthazar. Given the subject material I think this is profoundly apt. Animals truly have no control over their fate and little to no influence on the people around them.

Bresson seems to be obsessed with human suffering, fate, injustice and the insignificance of humankind, through which his characters ultimately attain redemption / sainthood.

Senseless violence, although not gratuitous, is peppered throughout the film. I found it interesting that it was depicted in such a way that you never felt disgusted, but rather accepted it as part of life - which agrees with Bresson's outlook.

Bresson's signature style is all over this film; Black and white, unemotional acting and little to no music. He does interesting things with the narrative whereby he would jump over the cause of a scene and cut directly to the effect of something that happened off camera. This obviously creates a complex narrative, but if you get bogged down in trying to follow the story you are probably missing the point.