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''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (; meaning "Balthazar, at Random"), also known as ''Balthazar'', is a 1966 French
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, and s ...
. Believed to be inspired by a passage from
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's 1868–69 novel ''
The Idiot ''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69. The title is an ...
'', the film follows a donkey as he is given to various owners, most of whom treat him callously. Noted for Bresson's ascetic directorial style and regarded as a work of profound emotional effect, it is frequently listed as one of the
greatest films of all time This is a list of films considered the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public. Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Voting systems differ, and some surveys suffer ...
.


Plot

In the French countryside near the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
, a baby donkey is adopted by young children - Jacques and his sisters, who live on a farm. They baptize the donkey (and christen it Balthazar) along with Marie, Jacques' childhood sweetheart, whose father is the teacher at the small school next door. When one of Jacques' sisters dies, his family vacates the farm, and Marie's family take it over in a loose arrangement. The donkey is given away to local farmhands who work it very hard. Years pass until Balthazar is involved in an accident and runs off, finding its way back to Marie, who is now a teenager. Marie's father gets involved in legal wrangles over the farm with Jacques’s father, and the donkey is given away to a local bakery for delivery work. Gérard, leader of a young criminal gang, is the delivery boy at the bakery. He is jealous of Balthazar because Marie loves him, and takes charge of the donkey, treating it cruelly. Marie, driving a 2CV one day, sees the donkey at the roadside and stops to greet it. Gérard, who'd been sleeping nearby, gets into her car and refuses to leave when demanded. It is implied that Gérard sexually assaults her after she gives up on attempting to flee, and afterwards she drives home. Marie enters into an abusive relationship with the violent Gérard, leaving her parents. Gérard is summoned to the local police station and questioned about a murder along with Arnold, an alcoholic who is also a suspect. Neither is arrested. Gérard and his gang assault Arnold, calling him a murderer and a stool-pigeon. Balthazar becomes ill and is nearly euthanized, but Arnold interrupts and takes the donkey off their hands. Balthazar recovers and Arnold uses the donkey and another to guide tourists around the Pyrenees. When the season ends, Balthazar escapes and joins a circus. But when the donkey sees Arnold in the audience it goes berserk, and Arnold retrieves it. Arnold's uncle dies and he inherits a fortune. He throws a wild party at a bar, at which Marie and her mother talk and she is asked to come home, which Marie refuses. Gérard puts Arnold on Balthazar's back to ride home. However, he is so drunk he falls off, hits his head on the ground and dies. The police send Balthazar to market. An avaricious local miller buys the donkey, using (and abusing) it for pumping water and milling. One rainy night, Marie, soaking wet, knocks on the miller's door asking for shelter - she has run away from Gérard. The miller says he'll be her companion and help her to escape, as she confided in him that she wished to "run away" - but the next morning sees her parents and offers them the donkey, the implication being that Marie will follow. Marie goes back to her parents. Jacques visits, wanting to marry her, and when Marie tells him about the abuse she has suffered he does not change his mind. Jacques also says that his father does not want the money the court ordered Marie's father to pay him. Marie is conflicted and is not sure if she is angry with Jacques or if she wants to be with him. She says she wants to "have it out" with Gérard and goes to visit a barn where they used to meet. Gérard is there with his gang, and they strip her, beat her, then lock her in. Marie's father and Jacques find her and break a window to get in. They take her home, pulled in a cart by Balthazar. Later Jacques wants to see Marie, but her mother comes downstairs and says, "She's gone and will never come back." Marie's father dies shortly after, when visited by a priest. While Marie's mother is grieving, Gérard turns up with his gang and asks if they can borrow Balthazar. Marie's mother refuses, as Balthazar is to carry the ashes of Marie's father in his funeral procession. In the dark of night Gérard abducts Balthazar to carry contraband over the Spanish border. When Gérard and his accomplice are supposed to meet their contact, they are instead shot at by customs guards and they flee, leaving Balthazar to his fate. In the morning, we see Balthazar has a gunshot wound. A shepherd and his flock come. The sheep gather around Balthazar, their bells jangling. He lies down and dies.


Cast

*
Anne Wiazemsky Anne Wiazemsky (14 May 1947 – 5 October 2017) was a French actress and novelist. She made her cinema debut at the age of 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson's ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966), and went on to appear in several ...
as Marie * Walter Green as Jacques * François Lafarge as Gérard * Philippe Asselin as Marie's father * Nathalie Joyaut as Marie's mother * Jean-Claude Guilbert as Arnold *
Pierre Klossowski Pierre Klossowski (; ; 9 August 1905 – 12 August 2001) was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus. Life Born in Par ...
as the miller * Jean-Joel Barbier as the priest * François Sullerot as the baker * Marie-Claire Fremont as the baker's wife * Jacques Sorbets as the gendarme * Jean Rémignard as the attorney


Production

After making several prison-themed films using his theory of "pure cinematography", Bresson stated that he wanted to move onto a different style of filmmaking. The story was inspired by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's ''
The Idiot ''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69. The title is an ...
'' and each episode in Balthazar's life represents one of the
seven deadly sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...
. Bresson later stated that the film was "made up of many lines that intersect one another" and that Balthazar was meant to be a symbol of Christian faith. Bresson produced the film with help from the
Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the ''Filmhuset'' building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm. The building, comp ...
. According to Wiazemsky's 2007 novel ''Jeune Fille'', she and Bresson developed a close relationship during the shooting of the film, although it was not consummated. On location they stayed in adjoining rooms and Wiazemsky said that "at first, he would content himself by holding my arm, or stroking my cheek. But then came the disagreeable moment when he would try to kiss me ... I would push him away and he wouldn't insist, but he looked so unhappy that I always felt guilty." Later Wiazemsky made love with a member of the film's crew, which she says gave her the courage to reject Bresson as a lover. Bresson was known to cast nonprofessional actors and use their inexperience to create a specific type of realism in his films. Wiazemsky states: "It was not his intention to teach me how to be an actress. Almost against the grain, I felt the emotion the role provoked in me, and later, in other films, I learned how to use that emotion."
Ghislain Cloquet Ghislain Cloquet (18 April 1924 – 2 November 1981) was a Belgian-born French cinematographer. Cloquet was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1924. He went to Paris to study and became a French citizen in 1940. Cloquet is known for his work with Ro ...
was the cinematographer for ''Au Hasard Balthazar''; it was the first of three films Cloquet shot for Bresson. Bresson's long collaboration with
Léonce-Henri Burel Léonce-Henri Burel (23 November 1892 – 21 March 1977) was a French cinematographer whose career extended from the silent era until the early 1970s. He was the director of photography on more than 120 films, working almost exclusively in black-an ...
had ended with Bresson's previous film, ''The Trial of Joan of Arc''. As described by Daryl Chin, Bresson and Cloquet "would evolve a cinematic style of subtle, sun-dappled radiance; without extending the photography into extremes of chiaroscuro contrast, Cloquet would heighten the lighting so that even the greys would glisten." The film's editor was
Raymond Lamy Raymond Lamy (1903–1982) was a French film editor active from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also directed two feature films ''Clodoche'' (1938) and ''Miroir (film), Miroir'' (1947).Rège p.590 He edited a number of films for the director Robert Bre ...
, a veteran of French cinema whose first editing credit was in 1931. From 1956 through 1971, Lamy edited all of Bresson's films excepting ''
The Trial of Joan of Arc ''The Trial of Joan of Arc'' (french: Procès de Jeanne d'Arc) is a 1962 French historical drama film written and directed by Robert Bresson. The title role is played by Florence Delay. Synopsis In 1431, Jeanne d'Arc, a peasant girl who has le ...
'' (1962).


Reception

When ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' first played in New York at the 1966 Film Festival, "it received mostly unfavorable notices". Reviews in Europe, however, were glowing. The noted filmmaker and ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' critic
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
said, "Everyone who sees this film will be absolutely astonished ..because this film is really the world in an hour and a half." Godard married Anne Wiazemsky, who played Marie in the film, in 1967. Film critic
Tom Milne Tom Milne (2 April 1926 – 14 December 2005) was a British film critic. See also After war service, he studied English and French at Aberdeen University and later at the Sorbonne. Interested in the theatre too, he wrote for the magazine ' ...
called it "perhaps resson'sgreatest film to date, certainly his most complex." The theatrical release in the United States came four years later. In 1970, Roger Greenspun of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' lauded the film's final scene as "surely one of the most affecting passages in the history of film."
Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katav ...
, one of cinema's most influential critics, wrote in his 1970 review: "No film I have ever seen has come so close to convulsing my entire being ... It stands by itself as one of the loftiest pinnacles of artistically realized emotional experience."Sarris' entire February 19, 1970, review is reprinted in ''The New Yorker'' film critic
Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
, however, wrote that although some consider the work a masterpiece, "others may find it painstakingly tedious and offensively holy".
Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...
also said of the movie, "this ''Balthazar'', I didn't understand a word of it, it was so completely boring... A donkey, to me, is completely uninteresting, but a human being is always interesting." The film's religious imagery, spiritual allegories and naturalistic, minimalist aesthetic style have since been widely praised by film reviewers. In 2005, James Quandt referred to it as a "brief, elliptical tale about the life and death of a donkey" that has "exquisite renderings of pain and abasement" and "compendiums of cruelty" that tell a powerful spiritual message. In 2003,
J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...
stated, "Robert Bresson's heart-breaking and magnificent ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966) – the story of a donkey's life and death in rural France – is the supreme masterpiece by one of the greatest of 20th-century filmmakers."
Manohla Dargis Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Career Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...
views ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' as "one of the greatest films in history", writing that it "stirs the heart and soul as much as the mind."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
argued, "The genius of Bresson's approach is that he never gives us a single moment that could be described as one of Balthazar's 'reaction shots.' Other movie animals may roll their eyes or stomp their hooves, but Balthazar simply walks or waits, regarding everything with the clarity of a donkey who knows it is a beast of burden, and that its life consists of either bearing or not bearing ..This is the cinema of empathy."
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky Ignatiy Igorevich Vishnevetsky (; russian: Игнатий Игоревич Вишневецкий; born September 5, 1986)Vishnevetsky, Ignati''Time Indefinite'': "A Talk with Sergei Loznitsa" '' Mubi'' is a Russian-American film critic, essayi ...
similarly commented, "Bresson never attempts to humanize Balthazar. ..What Balthazar experiences of human nature is both pure and limited: the embrace of a lonely young woman, the unprovoked attack of an angry young man, and the work of the farms whose owners worry over money. He is only a donkey, and therefore something much more." Ebert also credits Bresson's ascetic approach to actors for much of the work's emotional power, writing, "The actors portray lives without informing us how to feel about them; forced to decide for ourselves how to feel, forced to empathize, we often have stronger feelings than if the actors were feeling them for us." As of December 2022, on
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a rare 100% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 9.2/10. The critics consensus reads, "''Au Hasard Balthazar'' uses one animal's lifelong journey to trace a soberly compelling – and ultimately heartbreaking – outline of the human experience."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
, assigned the film a "Metacritic Must-See" designation alongside a score of 98 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


Awards and legacy

The film premièred at the 1966
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
where it won the OCIC ( International Catholic Organization for Cinema) Award, the San Giorgio Prize, and the New Cinema Award. ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' is the inspiration for 1977
Tamil-language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pud ...
film ''
Agraharathil Kazhutai ''Agraharathil Kazhutai'' () is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language satirical film directed by John Abraham and written by Venkat Swaminathan. Inspired by Robert Bresson's French film ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966), the film stars M. B. Sreenivasan a ...
'' directed by Indian director
John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations. After modelling for advertisements and companies ...
. The film was critically acclaimed upon its release and in 2013 and it was listed in
IBN Live Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (formerly SGA Finance and Management Service and Network18 Fincap Limited) commonly referred to as the Network18 Group and sometimes as the Network18–Eenadu Group, is an Indian media conglomerate owned b ...
's 100 Greatest Indian movies of all time. In 1978, ''Agraharathil Kazhutai'' won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awa ...
at the
25th National Film Awards The 25th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1977. Ceremony took place on 27 ...
. Other films inspired by ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' include
Todd Solondz Todd Solondz (; born October 15, 1959) is an American filmmaker and playwright known for his style of dark, socially conscious satire. Solondz's work has received critical acclaim for its commentary on the "dark underbelly of middle class America ...
's '' Wiener-Dog'' (2016) and
Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wykol' ...
's '' EO'' (2022). ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' was ranked sixteenth on the 2012 critics' poll of "the greatest films of all time" conducted by the film magazine ''
Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
''. It was also 21st in the directors' poll, receiving 18 votes from filmmakers including
Nuri Bilge Ceylan Nuri Bilge Ceylan (, born 26 January 1959) is a Turkish photographer, filmmaker and actor best known for the Palme d'Or winning ''Winter Sleep (film), Winter Sleep'' (2014). Early life Ceylan was born in Istanbul on 26 January 1959. His interes ...
and
Béla Tarr Béla Tarr (born 21 July 1955) is a Hungarian filmmaker. Debuting with the film '' Family Nest'' (1977), Tarr began his directorial career with a brief period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling everyday stories about ordi ...
. It was also the first-place choice of
Michael Haneke Michael Haneke (; born 23 March 1942) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. His work often examines social issues and depicts the feelings of estrangement experienced by individuals in modern society. Haneke has made films in French, G ...
in the 2002 poll. The German filmmaker
Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...
praised the film and called it "incredible". The American filmmaker
Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by so ...
listed the film as one of his favorite films in
the Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
library. The American filmmaker
Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...
listed the film in his top 10 film list from the Criterion Collection. In 2018 the film ranked 52nd on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's list of the 100 greatest foreign-language films, as voted on by 209 film critics from 43 countries.


Home media

In 2008, the film was released to the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
as a region 1 DVD with English subtitles. In 2013 a region 2 DVD was released by Artificial Eye, again with English subtitles.


References


Further reading


Voted #5 on The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (2010)
* A comparison with ''
Mouchette ''Mouchette'' () is a 1967 French film directed by Robert Bresson, starring Nadine Nortier and Jean-Claude Guilbert. It is based on the novel of the same name by Georges Bernanos. Bresson explained his choice of the novel saying, "I found neithe ...
'', the film Bresson made just one year after ''Au Hasard Balthazar''.


External links

* * * *
''Au hasard Balthazar''
an essay by James Quandt at the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{Authority control 1966 films 1966 drama films Existentialist films Fictional donkeys French drama films French black-and-white films Fiction about animal cruelty Films based on The Idiot Films about Christianity Films directed by Robert Bresson Films about donkeys Seven deadly sins in popular culture 1960s French-language films 1960s French films