Balthazar (Au Hasard Balthazar) (1966)

The main character of Robert Bresson’s 1966 parable of cosmic existence in our world is Balthazar. As in almost all of Bresson’s work, Balthazar is portrayed by a non-actor. Balthazar is not even human, as he is a donkey, and Bresson makes him the main star of his movie.

I was always mesmerized by the ability for Bresson to touch me with character’s in his movies who would act with a straight face and monotone delivery. It was only when watching this film, that I understood the why and how of this method. The donkey in this movie is just a donkey, with the same animal expressions always on its face, yet I felt the pain, hardship and sometimes comfort felt by the animal. So much so, that the ending of this movie is as touching and heartfelt as any ending I have ever seen.

The movie follows Balthazar, a donkey, from his birth to his life, through seven different owners. Some kind, but most harsh and even cruel. The life of a beast of burden in our world is not a life of many joys. Hard physical labor, harsh treatment, and cruel torture are some of the travails this donkey must face each day. Yet, the way Bresson films him, brings out a deep sense of intelligence and empathy to all the people he comes across. There are also many reoccurring characters who make up the tapestry of the world the donkey lives in. One main character is the young woman Marie. Marie loves Balthazar and is his owner at birth, but quickly has life deliver the donkey away and drive her into misery. Her parents are here as well, as is Jacque, the rightful owner of their farm, and who loves Marie. Marie however gets involved with a local hoodlum Gerard, who at one point in the film has overseeing rights over Balthazar.

The travails of all these characters are being watched over by Balthazar the donkey.   The donkey knows when he needs to run and understands when to bray.   His bray is only used, I think, three times in the movie, and each time serves as an announcement to unjust cruelty occurring to someone in the film.  

Throughout the movie I felt as if I was watching a classic parable of cultural folklore.  Watching this movie is like seeing poetry come to life.   There is a gentleness to the image of this donkey suffering through man’s indifference to others.   Finally, I understood why Bresson did not want his movie actors to act.  Here their wooden delivery and straight faced facial expressions mirrored those of the donkey and by so doing illuminated the sadness of their lives. 

The seven owners of Balthazar serve to represent the seven deadly sins of Christianity with their actions and motives.  There is the greed of Gerard as he steals, the lust of the miller and the pride of Marie’s father to name just three of the seven.  All the while the donkey watches, as if serving as a witness to god on the sins of man. 

The feelings and desires of the people shown here are emphasized through Bresson’s filming of hands.   In all of his movies Bresson had his camera dwell on hands.   In this movie we see hands create actions of desire, love, anger and deception.  It struck me as to how much more powerful these scenes become when combined with the bland robot-like acting of the main actors.   

Bresson has always expressed cinema as needing to be pure art, rather than a visualization of art, and he always strived to portray real humanity.   It is with Balthazar, his film about a donkey living within the world of man, that he has in my opinion, succeeded in attaining this truism in his art.   It is a movie about a donkey, made for humanity, that depicts the spirituality of man in a quaint and sublime way.  It is truly a remarkable film.