Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 95 minuten
Alternative title: Balthazar
Country:
France / Sweden
Directed by: Robert Bresson
Stars: Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge and Philippe Asselin
IMDb score:
7,7 (24.928)
Releasedate: 25 May 1966
Au Hasard Balthazar plot
The film follows the life of a donkey, Balthazar, in the early 1960s, which parallels that of his namesake, the young Marie. Balthazar is not always treated equally well by successive owners. And this does not only apply to Balthazar, the various characters sometimes treat each other cruelly and inhumanely. Balthazar follows all this as a saint, a silent and impotent witness.
Actors and actresses
Marie
Jacques
Gérard
Arnold
Marie's Father
Merchant
Marie's Mother
Baker's Wife
The Priest
Reviews & comments
eRCee
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- 13453 messages
- 1981 votes
Au hasard Balthazar is a peculiar film, which succeeds in conveying a feeling for me, but disappoints on a more analytical level. This is mainly because the characters show too little internal coherence: beliefs and actions do not match, or successive actions conflict with each other, and therefore the characters do not come to life. They seem to me to be too symbolic for anything. The story also shows little cohesion and Balthazar as a connecting link is not always convincing, for example in the storyline of the possible murderer Arnold. But there are also plenty of beautiful scenes, especially around the donkey and thanks to beautiful cinematography. Like my predecessors above, I was sometimes reminded of Tarr's The Turin horse in this context. Both movies don't quite work for me, but maybe a review is in order at some point.
Translated from Dutch · View original
BBarbie
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- 12893 messages
- 7675 votes
Gloomy allegory about exploitation and abuse. Opinions on this film vary widely. While Jean-Luc Godard praised this work by Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman found the film “completely boring”.
My own main metric is usually entertainment value. Although I can't deny that the film contains a number of gripping scenes (the closing scene!) the story and the camerawork barely captivated me. I also find an important shortcoming to be the total lack of emotions. In my opinion, when actors recite their lines without expression, it does not benefit the quality of the film, even if it is done on purpose. Partly for that reason, I don't think this is the masterpiece that others see in it.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 12190 messages
- 10362 votes
Amateurish acting and unsubtle religious symbolism in a minimalist, rather overrated meditative drama that is particularly notable for Bresson's apparent obsession with hands and the fact that a donkey plays all of the screen's opponents as it swings back and forth between different owners. Stylistically interesting at times but mostly pretentious and nowhere near as telling as many respected critics have tried for decades to have us believe.
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