# Au Hasard Balthazar
**Au hasard Balthazar** is a 1966 French-Swedish drama directed and written by [Robert Bresson](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-bresson) that follows the life of a donkey, [Balthazar](https://www.edgepedia.org/balthazar), as he is passed from owner to owner in the French countryside, suffering kindness and cruelty alike while his fate parallels that of a young woman, Marie.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/455-au-hasard-balthazar) The film is widely regarded as Bresson's masterpiece and ranks among the most honored works in the history of cinema: it placed joint 25th in the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the greatest films of all time and 37th in the accompanying directors' poll.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Robert Bresson, who wrote the screenplay and dialogue[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) |
| Production | France and Sweden, 1966; produced by Anatole Dauman and Mag Bodard for Parc Film, Argos Films, Athos Films, Svensk Filmindustri, and Svenska Filminstitutet[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html) |
| Running time and format | 95 minutes, black and white, 1.66:1, in French[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/455-au-hasard-balthazar) |
| Principal cast | Anne Wiazemsky (Marie), François Lafarge (Gérard), Walter Green (Jacques), Jean-Claude Guilbert (Arnold), Pierre Klossowski (the grain merchant)[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html) |
| Music | Original music by Jean Wiener; pre-existing music by Franz Schubert, chiefly the Andantino of the Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html) • [4](https://thefifthdesk.org/work/au-hasard-balthazar/) |
| French release | Visa dated 9 May 1966; released in French theaters 25 May 1966 (Cineuropa lists 15 May 1966)[5](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/30705) • [6](https://cineuropa.org/film/401120/) |
| Critical standing | Joint 25th in the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll; Metascore of 98 on Metacritic from 20 reviews[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/au-hasard-balthazar/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Story and structure
The film opens in pastoral innocence: two young children receive a donkey, baptize him with the name of a Magus, and give him the "salt of intelligence".[8](https://www.timeout.com/fr/cinema/au-hasard-balthazar-1966) As the story proceeds, Balthazar passes through a series of hands, some kind and some cruel, all with motivations beyond his understanding, and he bears silent witness to the follies and petty cruelties of his human masters.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/455-au-hasard-balthazar) • [1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) His life runs in parallel with that of Marie, his first keeper, who is torn between the security of Jacques and the excitement of Gérard, a local delinquent.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/) The two destinies merge in a celebrated scene in which Marie garlands the donkey's head with flowers and secretly kisses his muzzle; the film ends with twin finales, Marie crouched naked in the corner of an empty room and Balthazar dying on a mountainside among a flock of sheep.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/)
The contemporary Sight & Sound notes describe the pairing precisely: Marie chooses while Balthazar does not; Marie acts while Balthazar is acted upon; both end in misery and despair, with an indefinable breath of grace hovering near them.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/) The film's world is more contemporary than in any other Bresson work, filled with scooters, transistors, cars, jukeboxes, and unthinking violence.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/)
## Religious and literary sources
Bresson was a Catholic filmmaker, and the story has been interpreted as a Christian allegory by some critics.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) The religious references are conspicuous: Balthazar's name, Marie's name, the baptism in the stable, and what the program notes call a parade of the seven deadly sins.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/) Bresson himself suggested that these analogies are not guide-points to a simple Christian parable but echoes, designed to give depth to his study of free will and the immutability of suffering.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/) The Larousse encyclopedia calls the film a mystical parable on humiliated and sacrificed innocence, in which Balthazar is the innocent victim whose suffering reveals the vices of humanity: pride, greed, sadism, avarice, drunkenness, lust, cowardice, and stupidity.[10](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/Au_hasard_Balthazar/905)
The film was also inspired by a passage in [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://www.edgepedia.org/fyodor-dostoevsky)'s 1868 novel *The Idiot*; the critic Kaya Genc describes the result as a seemingly aloof, cold film that burns with a yearning for justice and beauty.[9](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/) The title itself refers to the motto of the counts of Baux, who claimed descent from the Magus Balthazar.[11](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D4488.html)
## Bresson's style
Bresson's method gives the film its distinctive texture. His shots are austerely concentrated, restricted to details of scenes in order to elucidate the whole, and his controlled use of sound implies off-screen activity, producing what the BFI calls a uniquely dense, richly textured film.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) He used non-professional performers he called "models" rather than actors, seeking emotion and spontaneity rather than acting.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2024/02/27/cinema-s-devastating-obsession-with-girls-and-young-women_6562163_117.html) Dissolves compress and link the flow of time, carrying Balthazar from his idyllic youth into an enslaved existence under the whip.[13](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/how-bresson-creates-profound-emotion-small-moments) The soundtrack pairs Jean Wiener's original music with the slow movement of Schubert's Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959, which French viewers' commentary associates with the donkey himself.[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html) • [14](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-4488/critiques/spectateurs/)
The [British Board of Film Classification](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-board-of-film-classification), which passed the film for cinema release in August 1966, noted scenes in which a donkey is implied to be beaten and its tail set alight, and recorded that there were no animal cruelty issues in the production.[15](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/au-hasard-balthazar-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ymjg2ndg)
## Production and cast
Anne Wiazemsky, granddaughter of the novelist [François Mauriac](https://www.edgepedia.org/francois-mauriac), made her first screen appearance as Marie. Mauriac allowed her to take the part even though, after reading the screenplay, he told her: "Evil always wins! It is almost a world without God!"[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html) The assistant director was Claude Miller, the cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet, and the editor Raymond Lamy.[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html) The film was screened at the Venice International Film Festival in 1966.[16](https://asac.labiennale.org/attivita/cinema/6310)
Wiazemsky later revisited the shoot in her 2007 novel *Jeune fille*, recalling what she called the "perverse game" the 64-year-old director established with her 17-year-old self, including his choosing her clothes, testing her voice by telephone, and forcing her to replay scenes as many as 15 times; she nonetheless retained feelings of tenderness and friendship for him.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2024/02/27/cinema-s-devastating-obsession-with-girls-and-young-women_6562163_117.html)
## Reception and standing
The film's critical reputation has grown steadily since release. [Jean-Luc Godard](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-luc-godard) said it contained "the world in an hour and a half".[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar) On Metacritic it holds a score of 98, based on 20 critic reviews, classified as universal acclaim.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/au-hasard-balthazar/critic-reviews/) In his review, Roger Ebert proposed that Bresson portrays humanity in the donkey: whatever fate the world has in store, it will in the end impose it on each of us, no matter our aspirations, wishes, or careful designs.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/au-hasard-balthazar/critic-reviews/) In the Sight & Sound 2022 poll it ranked joint 25th among critics and 37th among directors.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar)
The film circulated widely after its French release: Cineuropa lists openings in [West Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-germany) in May 1966, Italy in September 1966, the UK in October 1966, Denmark in January 1967, Finland in September 1967, Sweden in November 1967, Portugal in 1972, and Spain in December 1973.[6](https://cineuropa.org/film/401120/) [The Criterion Collection](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-criterion-collection) issued it on Blu-ray as spine number 297 with a new 4K digital restoration, and the 1966 French television program *Un metteur en ordre: Robert Bresson*, featuring Bresson, Godard, and [Louis Malle](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-malle), is included as a supplement.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/455-au-hasard-balthazar)
## References
1. [Au hasard Balthazar (1966), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3fc31e95-d0aa-5a28-a8d4-4d3c8a3d50a9/au-hasard-balthazar)
2. [Au hasard Balthazar, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/455-au-hasard-balthazar)
3. [Au hasard, Balthazar, La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47120.html)
4. [Au hasard Balthazar, The Fifth Desk](https://thefifthdesk.org/work/au-hasard-balthazar/)
5. [Visas et Classification, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/30705)
6. [Au hasard Balthazar, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/film/401120/)
7. [Au hasard Balthazar critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/au-hasard-balthazar/critic-reviews/)
8. [Au hasard Balthazar (1966), Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/fr/cinema/au-hasard-balthazar-1966)
9. [Au hasard Balthazar, BFI Southbank Programme Notes, Sight and Sound Greatest Films 2022](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/sight%20and%20sound%20greatest%20films%20of%20all%20time%202022%3Cbr%3E25%3D/2023/03/02/au-hasard-balthazar/)
10. [Au hasard Balthazar, Larousse](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/Au_hasard_Balthazar/905)
11. [Au hasard Balthazar, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D4488.html)
12. [Cinema's devastating obsession with girls and young women, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2024/02/27/cinema-s-devastating-obsession-with-girls-and-young-women_6562163_117.html)
13. [How Bresson creates profound emotion from small moments, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/how-bresson-creates-profound-emotion-small-moments)
14. [Critiques spectateurs, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-4488/critiques/spectateurs/)
15. [Au Hasard Balthazar, BBFC](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/au-hasard-balthazar-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ymjg2ndg)
16. [Scheda film, La Biennale ASAC](https://asac.labiennale.org/attivita/cinema/6310)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1960s › Released 1966 to 1969*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license