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IMDbPro

Flight of the Red Balloon

Original title: Le voyage du ballon rouge
  • 20072007
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 55m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Juliette Binoche and Simon Iteanu in Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
  • Drama
  • Family
A little boy and his baby-sitter inhabit the same imaginary world: through their adventures they are followed by a strange red balloon.A little boy and his baby-sitter inhabit the same imaginary world: through their adventures they are followed by a strange red balloon.A little boy and his baby-sitter inhabit the same imaginary world: through their adventures they are followed by a strange red balloon.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
  • Writers
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • François Margolin
  • Stars
    • Juliette Binoche
    • Hippolyte Girardot
    • Simon Iteanu
Top credits
  • Director
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
  • Writers
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • François Margolin
  • Stars
    • Juliette Binoche
    • Hippolyte Girardot
    • Simon Iteanu
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 37User reviews
    • 114Critic reviews
    • 86Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 5 wins & 15 nominations

    Photos31

    Juliette Binoche in Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Juliette Binoche in Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Juliette Binoche and Simon Iteanu in Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
    Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Juliette Binoche
    Juliette Binoche
    • Suzanne
    Hippolyte Girardot
    Hippolyte Girardot
    • Marc
    Simon Iteanu
    • Simon
    Fang Song
    • Song
    Louise Margolin
    • Louise
    Anna Sigalevitch
    Anna Sigalevitch
    • Anna
    Charles-Edouard Renault
    • Lorenzo
    Damien Maestraggi
    • Director
      • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • Writers
      • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
      • François Margolin
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The director's first film to be shot outside of Asia.
    • Connections
      References Severance (2006)

    User reviews37

    Review
    Top review
    Carrying on in the traditional Hou Hsiao-hsien style, but in French
    Watched at the Toronto International Film Festival, with a personal appearance by Juliette Binoche, a favourite guest of the TIFF.

    Those who have watched "The red balloon" (1956) will never forget it. "Flight of the Red Balloon", Hou's Hsiao-hsien's second foreign language (i.e. non-Chinese) film, is not a remake of this all-time classic. Rather, Hou's film pays tribute to it, as well as borrows from it the obvious motif.

    Those who have watched his first foreign language film Japanese "Cafe Lumiere" (2003) would recognize Hou's unassuming style: slow, languid pace visually; complete silence to dreamy piano in the audio department. This film actually already has more "action" (for want of a better word) than most of Hou's other films. Wandering nonchalantly around various slices of daily life of a simple family in Paris, the film starts with Song (Fang Song), a film student from Beijing, taking up a post as nanny of little kid Simon (Simon Iteanu) whose divorced mother Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) is a busy actress.

    Revolving around the three principle characters, the film depicts various things – alternatively amusing, frustrating, touching, mundane, inspiring – at that particular time in their lives: Song and Simon getting to know each other, Suzanne's interesting current assignment of supplying all spoken dialogue in a puppetry theatre (how wonderfully Binoche does that!), hassles with an irresponsible basement tenant, Song's self-initiated project of filming a "red balloon" sequence with Simon as the subject, Simon's longing for his loving elder sister currently sojourning in Brussels, and more.

    It is through sharing with them their simple daily lives rather than earth-shattering emotional turmoil that we come to know and care for these characters. In Hou's usual unassuming style, meticulous attention is given to simple details, things so simple that a crafty Hollywood screen-writer wouldn't dream of writing. Example. Suzanne brings home an armful of grocery as presents and, in high spirit, dumps them on the kitchen table, hitting the overhead lamp with the upswing of her arm. Completely as-a-matter-of-course, little Simon says, "Mind the lamp". Example. Two workmen, after a tough negotiation with the staircase, succeed in moving a piano upstairs, during which time Song and Simon wait patiently downstairs. As the workmen, after a friendly chat with Suzanne and receiving their fee, walk out of the door, Song walks in, carrying the piano stool. Suzanne exclaims, "Oh, I've forgotten all about the piano stool!"

    Going back to the title, the red balloon, as mentioned, is used as a recurring motif, not too frequently, but just at the right moments to punctuate the mood of the film. This is vintage Hou and brilliant Pinoche, except to those few who walked out of the TIFF screening, obviously out of boredom (and at Cannes early this year too, from a review I've read). But then there are always a few of those.
    helpful•23
    8
    • harry_tk_yung
    • Sep 8, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 30, 2008 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Taiwan
    • Official sites
      • Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Languages
      • French
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
      • The Red Balloon
    • Production companies
      • Margo Films
      • Les Films du Lendemain
      • Arte France Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • €3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $461,674
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $35,222
      • Apr 6, 2008
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,335,987
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 55 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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