Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)

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

Director:

Hsiao-Hsien Hou

Writers:

Hsiao-Hsien Hou, François Margolin

Stars:

Juliette Binoche, Hippolyte Girardot, Simon Iteanu

3 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Juliette Binoche	...	Suzanne
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Marc
Simon Iteanu	...	Simon
Fang Song	...	Song
Louise Margolin	...	Louise
Anna Sigalevitch	...	Anna
Charles-Edouard Renault	...	Lorenzo
Damien Maestraggi

Storyline

In Paris, Chinese cinema student Song Fang is hired to work as the nanny of Simon by his divorced mother Suzanne, who works voicing marionettes in a theater. Suzanne is having troubles with her tenant Marc, who does not pay the rent, while she waits for the return of her older daughter Louise, who lives with her father in Brussels.

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Plot Keywords:

tenant | red balloon | balloon | marionette | babysitter | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Taiwan

Language:

French Mandarin

Release Date:

30 January 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Flight of the Red Balloon

Box Office

Budget:

EUR3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,222, 6 April 2008

Gross USA:

$461,674

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,475,937

Company Credits

Production Co:

Margo Films, Les Films du Lendemain, Arte France Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Connections

References Severance (2006)

User Reviews

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.