Cinephiles' Choice: Au Hasard Balthazar
August 3, 2026
You're the programmer! You voted for the August 2026 Movie Club selection, and the winner is... Au Hasard Balthazar!
Called Bresson’s “supreme masterpiece,” Au Hasard Balthazar is a poignant religious allegory about the life of a donkey. Baptized by three children, the donkey’s life and trials become a transcendent experience. “Absolutely magnificent… one of the most significant events of the cinema,” —Jean-Luc Godard.
A profound masterpiece from one of the most revered filmmakers in the history of cinema, Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar follows the donkey Balthazar as he is passed from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel but all with motivations beyond his understanding. Balthazar, whose life parallels that of his first keeper, Marie, is truly a beast of burden, suffering the sins of humankind. But despite his powerlessness, he accepts his fate nobly. Through Bresson’s unconventional approach to composition, sound, and narrative, this simple story becomes a moving parable about purity and transcendence.
- Director: Robert Bresson
- Principal Cast: Anne Wiazemsky, François Lafarge, Philippe Asselin, Nathalie Joyaut
- Country: France
- Year: 1966
- Running Time: 95 min.
- Producer: Mag Bodard
- Screenplay: Robert Bresson
- Cinematographers: Ghislain Cloquet
- Editors: Raymond Lamy
- Music: Jean Wiener
- Language: French with English Subtitles
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- US Distributor: Rialto Pictures