Balthazar survives in life not because he is a paradigm of Christly suffering and its rising above such, but because of the fact that it is a mere object to every human in the film. It lives for the pleasure and service of the humans. It is not valued because it is an intelligent and caring animal, but because it can help do things for the humans. It is totally objectified, and its equation of existence is dependent and sustained upon this act of commerce. This objectification also allows Bresson to attack the basic human indecency and hypocrisy of the main characters. Note how the miser pretends to treat Balthazar well, when other people are in his barn to see things. The minute they leave, however, he retrieves the corn feed from the donkey’s bucket, for he has no need to use the animal to boost his public façade. Of course, there are many such little moments like this in the film, part of why Au Hasard Balthazar is a titanic work of art. Thus, Bresson wells up only disgust and revulsion as emotions to feel for all of his human characters — not a one is worth investing with care nor any positive feelings. The donkey, indeed, is the only likeable character in the whole film.
Even Marie is guilty of this form of selfishness. By midway through the film it is obvious that even she views Balthazar only as a thing, not a conscious being capable of affection and love, and deserving . Marie, in fact, is an emotionally shallow person, who soon empties out into a total cipher state. This vacancy has its root cause, though, and while the film’s larger theme is human indifference, its smaller theme is what some of the causes of this are, and Bresson uses Marie as the test case for his thesis. Her reason should be obvious to anyone who has watched modern TV talk shows of the last few decades, or, more pointedly, to any person who has known or dealt with a person who has been sexually abused at some point in their life.
Back in 1966, incest was not so openly addressed, so Marie’s symptoms, revealed through the tenor of her behavior (vacant gazes that evoke the film-ending photograph of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, a work that came out a year earlier than this film, and dissects the effect of likely abuse on the mind of a fragile female) — her attraction to the demeaning, violent, and abusive Gerard, her view of all living things (like Jacques, the donkey, the miser) as playthings for her desires — are all symptoms of someone who has been abused, likely at an early age.
Article comments
1 - Jon
Oh dear. This review is awful - and I say that though I think Balthazar is a masterpiece.
Is 12 pages of waffle really necessary for a review of the film? In the time it takes to read that I probably could have watched the film again. About 4 pages of that was merely plot describing! And 6 of them were just attacking other critics! Does Mr. Schneider actively search out critics to disagree with? Numerous critics have mentioned Bresson's technique, his use of ellipsis and to what extent the religious imagery is a mask for other things - and with more acuity and less adolescent ranting than this article.
I wont come back to comment, or read any more reviews by this guy because I've seen how any argument on these pages just descend into childish sniping. Still an awful review though.
And the donkey dies/ is dying at the end. To say not is just being very petty.
2 - Robert H
This paragraph--
"As for the DVD, put out by The Criterion Collection, it comes with no English dubbed soundtrack, and only white subtitles " a poor combination, as I’ve oft lamented. The positive of this, though, is that there is not much dialogue in the film that needs translation, and certainly no long speeches. Unfortunately, there is not even an audio film commentary track. This is simply inexcusable in this day and age, especially for such high priced merchandise as Criterion peddles."
--calls into question the legitimacy of anything you say before or after. The fact that you say (or at least imply) that you'd prefer to see a foreign film dubbed into English, makes me wonder if you actually do love foreign films. I can't know for sure, but this makes me think you might also prefer Balthazar in color.
3 - Dan Schneider
If you'd prefer to have up to 1/3 of your visual art marred by letters, go ahead, but any foreign films that are well-dubbed (many Ingmar Bergmans and some Fellinis) are far superior to the defacement of subtitling.
But, if you prefer it, go ahead.