Au hasard Balthazar
This small program aims to repair an injustice: the lack of importance given to the animal world in the Cinémathèque québécoise’s programming since its foundation in 1963. However, cinema has since its beginnings and even before, among the precursors (Muybridge), granted with infinite patience a capital importance to the living phenomenon, placing of course at its center the recording of all animal appearances, in a documentary perspective. However, singular fictions have developed over time where the animal takes a role in the strong sense of the term, switching forever into the world of cinematographic representations. This is the first entry in a multi-part series devoted to animals.
The tribulations of the donkey Balthazar, pampered by children, bullied by peasants, applauded in a circus and finally forgotten. One of the masterpieces of Bresson's cinema, entirely based on simplicity and ellipsis, this parable offers perhaps the only example of sanctity in the master's work: a donkey.
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have led his works to be regarded as preeminent examples of minimalist film. Much of his work is known for being tragic in story and nature. Bresson is among the most highly regarded filmmakers of all time. His works A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959) and Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) were ranked among the top 100, and other films like Mouchette (1967) and L'Argent (1983) also received many votes. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He is the French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music."
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