Other, even less supportable and tangential, claims for the film and its meaning inevitably see the trotting out of words and phrases like ‘faith and the fallen world,’ ‘the sins of the world,’ ‘cruelty,’ ‘crime,’ ‘misery,’ and ‘suffering.’ The omnipresence of such repeated claims speaks far less of what the film is actually about, and far more of the critical cribbing that goes on in all forma of criticism. This is where a claim, pro or con, about a film is made by a critic of some note and influence, like a Roger Ebert or Kenneth Turan, and then slight variations of that claim crop up in the reviews of other critics, not because it is extant in the art, but because the secondary critics have not bothered to formulate any real ideas nor opinions on the art, and settle for beating a deadline merely by echoing the meme that has been floated by the more prominent critic.
Other than the mangled misinterpretations of what the film is ‘about,’ at other times, critics will simply claim things about what is within the external narrative of the film that, simply put, are not on the screen. As example, this review of the film by Los Angeles Times film critic Manohla Dargis, is typical:
Released in 1966, "Balthazar" tells the wrenching story of a donkey and the country girl who grows up with him, Marie (Anne Wiazemsky, who was then, like most of Bresson's actors, a nonprofessional). The film opens with a young donkey being taken in by a farmer as a pet for his children, including his ailing daughter. Marie, the daughter of a schoolteacher, lives with her family in a house owned by the farmer. Her closest companion is the farmer's son, Jacques, with whom she shares a child's romantic passion. After Jacques' sister dies, the farmer moves his family away, leaving behind Marie's family and the donkey, whom the children have christened Balthazar. Time passes and Balthazar is sold to a succession of owners, undergoing a crucible of suffering that parallels that of Marie.
First, note how Dargis plays up the idea of this film’s being focused on suffering. I will debunk that point shortly, But, we never see nor hear anything about the relationship of Marie’s and Jacques’ families. There are some things one might surmise, but none of this is certain (unless the subtitles in The Criterion Collection DVD that I watched are way off the mark), and the whole subplot about Marie’s father and court proceedings is kept deliberately murky, for it’s really of no import, just a random part of living that someone in the vicinity of the donkey might pick up.
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.