Au Hasard Balthazar (By Chance, Balthazar)

Robert Bresson film from 1966, set around a donkey.
Being a Bresson film, it is wonderfully smooth, a pleasure simply aesthetically to watch, for the way the scenes are fast, to the point, and blend into the next. The way the character's simply walk, and the clearness and the blank white's of their faces remain a joy. The whole technical apparatus is interesting, the cblack and white contrasts and shade themes excellent.
Bresson still leaves us baffled. We enjoy the completely neutral acting styles, the difference this has from all others. The way that the plots tail round corners very quickly and with no fuss whatsoever is certainly refreshing. As an artist, rather than a storyteller, Bresson focusses on the right things. We have the shots of our hero, Balthazar, and some memorable stills of Marie's excellent performance. The uses of a camera at the donkey's level, chopping the heads off the character's, is a great trick.
And yet we'd be lying if we said Bresson's films really have us over the moon. The action is so decentered, the character's just so blank, the story and psychological depth so far away, it is difficult to quite know what is happening. Perhaps we should be concentrating harder, really trying to get inside the character's. The themes are fascinating, of religion, of suffering, of salvation, all as they should be, not rammed down the throat but played out on screen. But on what do we grasp to enter this fray. The answer would seem to lie with the viewer having to use their imagination, a trick that has been undernourished and needs development. We shall endevour.
So, another fascinating and beautiful cinematic experience with Bresson (his films remind us of a light bicep muscle). though again we found it difficult to enter into a dialogue with the film. If we haven't yet fully become one with the man though, let us not rule out the possibility.