The White Balloon (1995)

Several people try to help a little girl to find the money her mom gave her to buy a goldfish with.

Director:

Jafar Panahi

Writers:

Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi (original idea)

Stars:

Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kafili, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aida Mohammadkhani	...	Razieh
Mohsen Kafili	...	Ali
Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy	...	Mother
Anna Borkowska	...	Old Lady
Mohammad Shahani	...	Soldier
Mohammed Bakhtiar	...	Tailor
Aliasghar Smadi	...	Balloon Seller
Hamidreza Tahery	...	Reza
Asghar Barzegar	...	Pet Shop Manager
Hasan Neamatolahi	...	Snake Charmer
Bosnali Bahary	...	Snake Charmer
Mohammadreza Baryar	...	Client in Tailor's Shop
Shaker Hayely	...	Tailor's Assistant
Homayoon Rokani	...	Street Singer / Dancer
Mohammad Farakani	...	Shop Keeper

Storyline

Razieh wants a fat goldfish for the Iranian New Years celebration instead of the skinny ones in her family's pond at home, because the fat fish looks like it's dancing when it swims. After many attempts she and her brother convince their mother to give them her last bit of money. Between their home and the fish store, Razieh loses the money.. She finds it, but it is temptingly just out of her reach.

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Plot Keywords:

money | little girl | shopkeeper | street life | snake charmer | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

sourehcinema

Country:

Iran

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

1995 (Iran)

Also Known As:

The White Balloon

Filming Locations:

Kashan, Iran

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$474,047

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ferdos Films,I.R.I.B. Channel 2

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Guardian has listed this film as one of the 50 best family films of all time.

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Quotes

Shop Owner: Why did you make me come if you could do it yourselves?

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Connections

Referenced in Pardé (2013)

User Reviews

Good gentle film - but you need patience!

Young Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) needs to buy a goldfish to celebrate the New Year in Iran. Her mother (Fereshteh Sadr Orfani) gives her the money and she sets out to buy said fish. Along the way she continually loses the money and must rely on the kindness of strangers to help her.

This is a very slight film. It's plot is wafer thin in terms of traditional narrative, it may well frustrate many viewers with it's gentling strolling style. However it is quite funny on the surface. The many people who come and go during Razieh's journey are amusing - from the tailor berating a customer for having a small face causing his shirts to not look correctly tailored to the antics of the honest snake charmers. It's not a laugh out loud type of film but it does have a gentle humour throughout that is fun if you are in the mood for it.

In fact you really need to be in the mood for the whole thing - if you're lacking patience then you'll probably not last out this film but if you're willing to stick with it then you may be pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. The story doesn't grip you, but the humour helps to divert attention from this. In fact the guts of this film seems to be a message on the nature of society.

Throughout the film Razieh finds herself relying on the kindness or honesty of strangers to help her get her money. The towards the end one of the characters (a soldier played by Mohammad Shaani) talks to Razieh about his sisters and about what he has in common with her. He then defends himself when Ali (Mohsen Kalifi) attacks his sister for talking with strangers. This is closely followed by a short scene where all the characters that had interacted with Razieh cross the screen at the same time without really acknowledging each other. The message here is clear - that society is a lot closer knit than we think and it's only times of trouble where we turn to others. Instead we should develop the relationships with strangers that we easily could.

However this message is not delivered until the end of the film and it's only then that you understand what you've been watching. However the gentle comedy of the strangers make it easy to follow the film till this conclusion. Unlike other reviewers I don't think Mohammadkani was that good - she did come across as a very weepy brat and it was hard to sympathise with the problems that are all her own fault. However the other roles are good, Kalifi is the best child actor as Razieh and the other characters seem natural and forced (although Shahani's soldier is a bit preachy).

Overall a gently amusing film that is light on plot, but delivers it's simple message intelligently without forcing it down your throat.