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Au Hasard Balthazar (re-release)

Universal acclaim
Based on 8 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 24 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by: Robert Bresson
Directed by: Robert Bresson
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 17, 2003
DVD: June 14, 2005
Running Time: 88 minutes, B/W
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge, Philippe Asselin, Nathalie Joyaut, Walter Green, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Pierre Klossowski, and François Sullerot
Robert Bresson's 1966 film focuses on the story of the donkey Balthazar and the people around him.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Film Forum Profile
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TV Guide Staff (Not credited)
This great film, made with uncompromising honesty and devastating reality, is, according to Jean-Luc Godard, "the world in an hour and a half."
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
To cut to the chase, 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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
If in Bresson's films nothing ever seems out of place or superfluous it's because he strove to find the essential truth of the image. Not an image or sound is wasted -- or offered up in self-glorification -- and from such seeming simplicity there arises a world of feeling.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
1966 French masterpiece -- the finest, most deeply personal work of a filmmaker who has been compared, justifiably, to both Dostoyevsky and Bach.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The final scene of Balthazar's demise is one of cinema's most moving and haunting moments.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Dave Kehr
Perhaps the greatest and most revolutionary of Bresson's films, Balthazar is a difficult but transcendently rewarding experience, never to be missed.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Bresson suggests that we are all Balthazars. Despite our dreams, hopes and best plans, the world will eventually do with us whatever it does.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
To see Au Hasard Balthazar is to understand the limits of religious literalism in movies -- the limits, even, of movies themselves. Bresson pares everything away until all that's left are the things we do and the hole left by the things we could have done but didn't.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ira M gave it a10:
I just purchased this movie. I have seen it twice now. Religous allegory and painful realism in one movie. Not quite as surreal as Bunuel or Fellini, more subtle. What stikes me as strange are the events that never take place on screen. On the first viewing, I thought that maybe I wasn't paying attention close enough. I guess that is a part of the mystery, though. I loved the party scene with the fireworks. This is a subtle, sad masterpiece.
Stephen P., Ph.D. gave it a10:
Easily the most depressing movie I've ever seen. What a masterpiece, yet it put me into a depression that lasted two or three months. The final scene is, without question, one of the greatest in film. For the uninitiated, Balthazar plays the role of Jesus Christ in taking on the sin of the world, only to be rejected by humanity. It is, quite simply, extraordinary.
matt m. gave it a10:
One of the few films that truely matter, this is the pinacle of Bresson's achievements. Sadly this will be lost to the mainstream, but those who dare to explore will be richly rewarded, each viewing remains lyrical and profoundly enduring.
Mike R gave it a10:
Double-ditto the observations of Yoon Min C's user review. Those who understand the basic truths of life will see them all in this movie. Those who do not, might learn from this movie. And then there are those who consciously choose not to understand - alas, the works of Bresson are not for you.
Tiffy B. gave it a4:
I'm puzzled by the brouhaha around this film. While I generally like moody foreign films, especially those that deal with spiritual themes, I found myself completely turned off by a plot that I found often incoherent and acting which was execrable. And what's with this always pointing the camera at the character's feet? Is that supposed to be the donkey's point of view, or what? Cinematography was otherwise excellent, music fine, & concept fascinating but not well executed.
Dean R. gave it a10:
John Q. who gave this film a 2 rating is a prime example of everthing that is wrong with America and its sensibilities. Stop watching film John, it just isn't worth it for you.
Sam R. gave it a 10:
This is one of the five or ten most important films ever made, in any language, and one that will never leave the mind of the fortunate viewer who enters Balthazar's world. Bresson's film is about as close to perfect as I can find.
