Le voyage du ballon rouge (2007)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Hsiao-hsien Hou

Writers:

Hsiao-hsien Hou (writer)
François Margolin (writer)

Release Date:

30 January 2008 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Plot:

A little boy and his baby-sitter inhabit the same imaginary world: through their adventures they are followed by a strange red balloon.

Plot Keywords:

Balloon | Puppet | Children | Lease | Kitchen

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Juliette Binoche	...	Suzanne
Simon Iteanu	...	Simon
Fang Song	...	Song
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Marc
Louise Margolin	...	Louise
Anna Sigalevitch	...	Anna
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles-Edouard Renault	...	Lorenzo

Also Known As:

À la recherche du ballon rouge (France) (working title)
Ballon rouge (France) (working title)
Flight of the Red Balloon (International: English title)
Orsay (France) (working title)
The Red Balloon (International: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:PG | South Korea:12 | Ireland:PG | Australia:PG | Netherlands:AL | Taiwan:GP (original rating) | USA:Not Rated | Singapore:PG

Company:

Margo Films

Trivia:

The director's first film to be shot outside of Asia.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Le ballon rouge (1956)

You know, grownups are a bit complicated.

Oscar winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient, Chocolat, Caché) is a pleasure to watch. In this film she plays a harried mother with her flying blond hair symbolizing the mess of her life as she tries to raise a young son, with a husband off in Montreal writing and a daughter in Brussels. Life is not easy as she tries balancing 10 things at once. But, isn't that what we all go through? She hires a Chinese film student (Fang Song in her film debut) to watch her child, Simon, (Simon Iteanu, also in his first film).

Acclaimed writer/director Hsiao-hsien Hou doesn't bother with plot in this film, and I am given to understand that much of the dialog was extemporaneous. It is a credit to Binoche and the others that is gives us a picture of French life.

The film is purported to be an homage to Albert Lamorisse's 1956 short, The Red Balloon. In this film, the balloon floats in and out of the story without apparent contribution to what is going on. It is not the balloon that becomes a friend and companion to the boy, but the nanny.

It is particularly French - a slow film requiring much patience to appreciate.