Review of Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) by Andrew N — 14 May 2008

Everything about Bresson's masterpiece is sublime and I really don't know where to begin in praising it! For some of my friends, upon encouraging them to watch this film, they were put off upon reading the synopsis. Some said that it sounded ridiculous and that they were put off, due to the obscurity of the subject material. However if you're like me and up for experiencing something different, then I urge you to seek this genius film out.

I was actually the polar opposite of my friends who refused to watch it on account of the synopsis and was actually encouraged to watch it sooner due to its using an animal as the main character. As Alfred Hitchcock famously said, never work with animals or children and Bresson uses both in this! Moreover I wanted to know how a filmmaker could be able to capture the 'humanity' of a donkey and actually make it a compelling film. I believe that Bresson is able to make Balthazar compelling through the simplicity of his camera movements and the simplicity of his storyline, both underlying Bressonian tendencies. However whilst the storyline might be simple, the themes are most certainly not with aspects of religion, faith, human relationships and the battle between good and evil. Not bad for a little film about a donkey, eh? The film simply put is a wonderful study on human tendency to be kind and more often than not, our stronger desire to be cruel... The protagonist of the narrative, is Balthazar, a donkey who is born into a farming family and is treated kindly as a foal, but then when grown up is mistreated by a variety of owners as a 'tool' primarily for aiding farming. However because Balthazar is our 'hero', when we see him being mistreated we are outraged. Unlike a human, a donkey can't fight back against its attackers and even the most feeble resistance is to run away. Balthazar repeatedly finds himself in situations of intense pain or discomfort and cannot do anything about it. Therefore when he is able to run away occassionally, we as an audience are overjoyed that this object of torture has been able to evade his merciless labour (at least for a bit). The one bit of relief for Balthazar comes in the guise of Marie, a slightly vapid girl who becomes a bit of a town 'bicycle' when she falls in with the wrong crowd. It is Marie alone who shows Balthazar love and affection, but ironically she cannot accept any, shunning all from potential boyfriends and parents. Instead she runs off with 'outlaw biker' Gerard, who also has a penchant for whipping the luckless donkey.

What cannot be ignored however is Bresson's subtle references to Balthazar (and even Marie) as Christ-like, receiving whippings like a sideshow to Mel Gibson's 'The Passion' and eventually suffering his ultimate fate from the cruel Gerard who has also taken the opportunity to 'break' the fragile Marie. And the worst part of it all? The donkey accepts his fate with a peaceful and calm expression set to the music of Schubert. Which ranks as perhaps the most sad scene I've ever seen in cinema. Absolutely remarkable film. If anything I've mentioned sounds in the least bit interesting or if you've seen any Bresson, but not this, you must see it ASAP!