Au hasard Balthazar

NOTE IMDb

7,7/10

24 k

MA NOTE

Anne Wiazemsky in Au hasard Balthazar (1966)

The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.

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Epic Psychological Drama Tragedy Drama

L'histoire d'un âne maltraité et des gens qui l'entourent. Étude sur la sainteté et prologue à une autre oeuvre de Bresson, Mouchette.L'histoire d'un âne maltraité et des gens qui l'entourent. Étude sur la sainteté et prologue à une autre oeuvre de Bresson, Mouchette.L'histoire d'un âne maltraité et des gens qui l'entourent. Étude sur la sainteté et prologue à une autre oeuvre de Bresson, Mouchette.

Voir les informations de production sur IMDbPro

NOTE IMDb

7,7/10

24 k

MA NOTE

Voir les informations de production sur IMDbPro

Récompenses
- 7 victoires et 2 nominations au total

Anecdotes
Balthazar was an untrained donkey during most of the filming, which made Robert Bresson's work a real challenge. The only scene for which the donkey was trained was the circus math trick.

Gaffes
In the very last shot of the film the shadow of the camera man or someone else enters the picture from the bottom right.

Citations
Gerard: Lend him to us.
Marie's mother: He's worked enough. He's old. He's all I have.
Gerard: Just for a day.
Marie's mother: Besides, he's a saint.

Versions alternatives
Restored in 2014 from the original 35mm negative by the Éclair Group and L.E. Diapason.

Connexions
Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Seul le cinéma (1994)

Bandes originales
Piano Sonata No.20 in A Major, II. Andantino (D. 959)
Music by Franz Schubert
Performed by Jean-Joël Barbier

Avis des utilisateurs110

Commenter

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8/10

Intolerably beautiful.

For all its formal brilliance, this is one of the least watchable films in the world, despite its enchanted opening and fairy tale elements. Seen through the eyes of a much-abused donkey, we are treated to a litany of corruption, legal (a man is accused of fraud), social (provincial France has never seemed so pinched, arid, spiritually void, with its inhabitants leading lives, in Joyce's words, of 'quiet desperation'), criminal (a gang of violent teenage smugglers), and personal (the leader of said gang rapes, with his cronies, his girlfriend, then locks her up naked), as well as a murder and suicide. What makes this possibly bearable is the limpidity and formal beauty of Bresson's style, and admirers refer to his pinpointing spiritual grace in human suffering, but I wouldn't count on it.