Au hasard Balthazar

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Au hasard Balthazar
Cover to The Criterion Collection DVD
Directed by	Robert Bresson
Produced by	Mag Bodard
Written by	Robert Bresson
Starring	Anne Wiazemsky François Lafarge
Music by	Jean Wiener
Cinematography	Ghislain Cloquet
Editing by	Raymond Lamy
Distributed by	Cinema Ventures
Release date(s)	May 25, 1966
Running time	95 min.
Language	French
IMDb profile

Au hasard Balthazar, also known as Balthazar, is a 1966 French film directed by Robert Bresson, starring Anne Wiazemsky. The film's religious imagery, spiritual allegories and naturalistic, minimalist aesthetic style has been praised by film reviewers[1]. This "brief, elliptical tale about the life and death of a donkey" has "exquisite renderings of pain and abasement" and "compendiums of cruelty" that tell a powerful spiritual message.^[1]

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot

The film follows Marie, a farm girl, and her beloved donkey Balthazar. As Marie grows up the pair become separated, but the film traces both their fates as they continue to live a parallel existence, continually taking abuse of all forms from the people they encounter.

[edit] Cast

Anne Wiazemsky as Marie
François Lafarge as Gerard
Philippe Asselin as Marie's father
Nathalie Joyaut as Marie's mother
Walter Green as Jacques
Jean-Claude Guilbert as Arnold
Pierre Klossowski as Merchant
François Sullerot as Baker
Marie-Claire Fremont as Baker's wife
Jean Rémignard as Notary

[edit] References

^ James Quandt essay, available at: http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=297&eid=418&section=essay&page=3

[edit] External links

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Robert Bresson
Les affaires publiques (1934) • Les Anges du péché (1943) Les dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945) • Diary of a Country Priest (1951) A Man Escaped (1956) • Pickpocket (1959) The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962) • Au hasard Balthazar (1966) Mouchette (1967) A Gentle Woman (1969) Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971) Lancelot du Lac (1974) The Devil Probably (1977) L'argent (1983)

Robert Bresson

Les affaires publiques (1934) • Les Anges du péché (1943) Les dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945) • Diary of a Country Priest (1951) A Man Escaped (1956) • Pickpocket (1959) The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962) • Au hasard Balthazar (1966) Mouchette (1967) A Gentle Woman (1969) Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971) Lancelot du Lac (1974) The Devil Probably (1977) L'argent (1983)