Critics sometimes with a zeal bind together in pact of unquestioned praise toward a film, Au Hasard Balthazar is a very good film, but just because its of a certain age, shot in black & white and made by a french director does not make it a 10. 8 to 8.5 would be more accurate. The film scenes are often very compact yet still somehow not taught, the pausing shots and the pointed lingering gazes the characters endlessly offer up, seem in this day and age a little heavy handed and serve to irritate more than they succeed in forcing contemplation, also I think some of the actors used though good, seem not of the first order of the best of french acting in this era, some characters seem a little stilted and artificially shallow in presentation Marie endlessly abused, Gerard consistently mean and sadist, the father soppy stern and prideful etc etc. its as though all seems to have been extracted from the general play of realistic dialog, except for the miserable moments.
But still make no mistake this a great film, I just think is been fatly fed of the gilding of ego’d critics, to keen to demonstrate their intellect through protestation-al love of french art house cinema, for viewing i would advise being ready to match pace with the film to get the best out of it and not desire any jollity or resolution from the viewing. If the purpose of the cinema is to unrealistically depress then I would say it succeeds. some elements of plot movement and dialog are stilted or often merely implied, leading the viewer to interpret what has occurred in the gaps, this can be viewed as just plain awkward or a way of attempting to encapsulate through implication more than the film actually contains.
Though this film uses the donkey centrally to link its characters, its a rather vile portrayal of the intrigue of drab french rural life in a small village, and how the unredeeming characters attempt to use each other, just as the donkey is used, maries sad path in this film has been deliberately calibrated to irritate the decency inherent in the viewer, in a way that seems contrived and very depressing with implied, if off camera rape, it seems as if all the characters have been engineered to agrravate as there is too much shade and not enough light, given that none of the characters seem to get or give a break to each other, in the relentless sadness of it all, but the general jist is that for all that we think we might gain for ourselves there is a lacking in life, that leads us in the end even with free will, often to be no happier in life than the seemingly martyred silent donkey in the field.
