Balthazar, Bresson’s (Cinematographic) Eye

Abstract

Inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot, Au hasard Balthazar (1966) stands as the central film in director Robert Bresson’s body of work. This film marks a qualitative leap in his career, as it is the first time the theme of suicide emerges explicitly in the French filmmaker’s oeuvre. In this article, we explore why Au hasard Balthazar holds such a central place, as well as the significance of its protagonist --a donkey. We also examine what this animal symbolizes and what it represents. We aim to answer the question of what kind of suicide is depicted here, and who or what commits suicide in this and in Bresson’s subsequent films. In conclusion, we propose that Balthazar embodies the filmmaker’s own cinematographic eye --an eye that doesn’t merely look but rather contemplates everything that unfolds around it; an eye that is more internal than external, and therefore akin to what mythology refers to as the “third eye.” Ultimately, we arrive at the conclusion that Balthazar’s eye understands that, at the deepest level --beyond what takes form --there is nothing to see.