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Plot:
Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) is charming but she is a mother snowed under by obligations. With her puppet shows, the classes she teaches and the two children, Simon and Louise, that she has been raising...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 16, 2008Simon's mother Suzanne and babysitter Song get pleasure in concentrating on their passions and from Simon who brings them happiness in still getting his from simple everyday things, things that will gradually fade away as adult life hits him. To me the red balloon represented happiness, how it comes and goes and children are better at holding it. "Are you coming back to my place or not? No answer. So that's a 'No.' " I was absorbed from the beginning till the end and felt as weightless as the balloon, it's relief cinema.
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MCT:July 27, 2008
Art of a very high order, Hsiao-hsein Hao directs the Musee d?Orsay commissioned "The Flight of the Red Balloon", a stand-alone film paying homage to the Lamorisse?s 1956 film favorite "The Red Balloon". Directed with class and elegance, although stumbles in indulgent overextended shots and pacing problems, it pays dividends to the patient as we are welcomed into a claustrophobic apartment inhabited by a mother and son struggling to come to grips with a marital separation. The film knows its audience and it caters to them loyally, however won?t convert any non-believers.
Although not explicit, the sense of chaos is however present right from the point where we enter Suzanne and Simon?s apartment in Paris. Clearly not in control of her marital and maternal situation, she drowns herself in work as a puppet show narrator where she can control the fantastic as opposed to her real and disorganized state. Enter Song, a film student who acts as Simon?s surrogate as his mother deals with this transitional process.
The film?s screenplay is as light as a helium balloon, we enter their micro-cosmos through Song, almost this film?s allegory towards the original?s red balloon as its voyeuristic anchor ? nonjudgmental and omnipresent. Although certain scenes clearly leads to nowhere, they are nonetheless welcome as it highlights the reality of the situation and also the characters? desire to reach back to normal. It is clear here, Suzanne desires a somewhat ?normal? family life: almost pleading for her eldest daughter to move back to Paris and for his ex-husband?s friend/tenant to leave the property. A daughter of divorce, she knows it is imperative that a routine has to be established.
The way Hao films this, it has this odd certain detachment towards the characters, almost a "Wings of Desire" approach, static camera in tow. We see a single mother in despair but the audience isn?t allowed to feel anything about it: almost factual. Binoche personifies Suzanne with a quiet dignity and pride that her devastation is disallowed to be brought to the surface, but of course, when things build up to a boil, we can sense her immediate discomfort and frustration.
What seems like a nonchalant Simon, he is clearly affected too, as he can?t even distinguish his own family tree, to the effect that even the audience can be driven to confusion. He becomes distant to his own mother, finding solace through nostalgia with a long summer with his sister. He and Suzanne?s relationship is also obviously affected, as most of the film, they indulge in small talk and when the mother desires for an eye to eye contact, he looks away.
The decision to film this in a calming atmosphere as opposed to the chaos in the characters? is a smart idea: it highlights the juxtaposition even more. As opposed to the Lamorisse classic, the maternal figure here is in focus. The film works within its parameters and Hao does not belittle its audience ? of course, only to those willing to be engulfed by it. -
MCT:April 28, 2008Paris, the present. Seven-year-old Simon is followed around the city by a mysterious red balloon.
His mother Suzanne, busy rehearsing a new play for her Chinese puppet theatre, hires Taiwanese film student Song as Simon's childminder. For her college project - a homage to Albert Lamorisse's famous 1956 film The Red Balloon - Song starts to film Simon walking and playing around Paris. She develops a rapport with mother and son, and translates for Suzanne's masterclass with a Chinese puppet master. Simon misses his teenage half-sister Louise, who visits Paris occasionally and teaches him pinball. The balloon appears periodically outside Simon's cramped apartment, either drifting over the neighbourhood rooftops or bobbing outside his window. Suzanne works on her new puppet play, and tries to evict her downstairs tenant Marc, who has failed to pay his rent. She argues on the phone with Pierre, Simon's father, who has absented himself to Canada for two years to write a novel and who is rarely in touch. The balloon appears again outside Simon's apartment, unseen by Song or Simon. Suzanne evicts Marc, who yells that Pierre will never come back to her. Simon visits the Musée d'Orsay on a school trip, where his class is shown The Ball, a painting by Félix Vallotton in which a child chases a red ball. As they discuss it, the red balloon bumps against the museum's skylight windows before flying off over the city -
MCT:April 18, 2008This is no doubt my favorite modern HHH film. It's a beautiful slice of life in Paris as seen through the eyes of a foreigner, or perhaps from the viewpoint of the red balloon which seems to symbolize the wonder and curiosity of childhood. Of course Hou integrates his theme of history's impact on the present gracefully into the spontaneous, free-flowing narrative. Also similar to Cafe Lumiere the film depicts the interpretation of a foreign culture from one's own, as in how the character played by Binoche runs a chinese-inspired puppet show (a reference to The Puppetmaster) and how the Chinese film student is trying to film a homage to The Red Balloon. The composition and inventive use of reflections make this IMO the most visually accomplished film among his post 2000 films. Binoche does a great job here as well. In one of my favorite scenes a class of schoolchildren goes to a museum with their teacher to see Félix Vallotton's painting "The Balloon." When they are asked whether the painting is happy or sad, one child says that since part of the painting is dark and part of it is light, the painting is both happy and sad. The description sums up the mood of the film.
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MCT:April 2, 2008
A genuine film about a little boy who realizes a red balloon is following him. A great contrast between the innocence of the boy in his imaginary world and his mother's troubles.
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MCT:March 23, 2008Convincingly acted, but oh so very eye-rottingly dull. I'm all for movies without plot, but is a point too much to ask for?
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MCT:March 17, 2008Juliette Binoche gave a great performance as a single mother here and the film has more to it for those willing to watch carefully and make their own interpretations. However, what it doesn't offer, is entertainment - after leaving the cinema, I was too tired and bored to think much about it, which makes all the subtleties go amiss. Sadly, much of this fatigue came from the cinematography - a lot of shots obscuring the characters introduces a feeling of discomfort without apparent reason.
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MCT:October 28, 2007
Hou Hsiao Hsien explores the simple wonderment of childhood. His message is one of lost simplicity: as children we are more open and attune to the simple wonders around us. As we get older, however, we become engulfed in routine and responsibility. Reflected in the gentle pace of this film, the auteur simply wants us to slow down and take time to smell the roses. Fang Song plays a nanny who is thrust in the middle of a single mother family, led by Juliette Binoche. Slowly, the day to day complications of Binoche's private life are revealed as she tries to raise her son and take care of everything else single-handedly.
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MCT:October 14, 2007
A tender, innocent and meditative film that asks the viewer to see with child-like eyes. The long takes display astonishing acting talent and HHH's viewpoint is always assured yet filled with humility.
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