Perhaps one of the only films with a live animal in the lead role, this Bresson film is profound art. Excellent acting, masterful direction, decent (new) translation ... French is a little more descriptive and poetic, as usual. The camera follows the winding life span of a donkey in rural France. Used for noble and ignoble, legal and illegal purposes at times, the donkey changes hands repeatedly, at times abused and other times shown loving care and attention. Akin to the style and tone of pre-War French Poetic Relism, despair grows as the setting opens with hopeful simplicity and deteriorates as dreams fade, hearts harden and people die. In the end, the donkey who has witnessed much becomes not only a pawn but a victim. Le pauvre. Funny I didn't see a notice at the end of the film: "No animals were harmed in the making of this film." Anyway, well worth watching more than once.
Review of Au hasard Balthazar
