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Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

5 reviews

Synopsis

A Parisian boy and his babysitter are trailed by the titular balloon in Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien's first French-language film.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Cinema rarely soothes the heart and mind with the grace and quiet intellect of this wonderful new work from Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Commissioned by Paris’s Musée d’Orsay and taking Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 children’s film ‘Le Ballon Rouge’ as its base, it’s the director’s second project (the first was 2003’s Japan-set ‘Café Lumière’) to be shot outside of his homeland. It’s also one of his finest.

Adopting a typically muted approach to narrative, Hou’s intensely lyrical film offers a tiny window onto the chaotic day-to-day travails of Parisian puppet voice artist Suzanne (Juliette Binoche, at her semi-improvisational best) who is in the midst of dealing with the shifty tenants of her pokey upstairs apartment, an absentee husband and a visiting film student from Taiwan who is babysitting her inquisitive young son, Simon.

It’s a film that basks in the importance of life’s minutiae and gently invites us to draw our own conclusions from the material as we would from a photograph, a painting or a poem; a process that is explained in an ingenious final scene where Simon is told how to deconstruct Félix Vallotton’s painting ‘The Balloon’. Perspective, as Hou affirms, is the key, and as an outsider casting a fresh eye over the City of Lights, he compounds the notion that different people can interpret the same things in completely different ways.

It’s also gorgeously constructed, with burnished russet and gold photography lending the French capital a swooning, dusky hue which is further bolstered by Lee Ping Bing’s long, floating tracking shots and the mournful piano on the soundtrack. It’s an exceptional piece of filmmaking, intricate, elaborate and exuding warmth and wisdom from its every frame.

Author: David Jenkins

Time Out London Issue 1960 March 12 – 18

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User reviews of this film

Ale said...

Posted on Oct 26 2010 11:40 I saw the original version of this film as a young child, as in the Buenos Aires of my childhood we were taken to see Russian and European cinema as well as Disney. I still remember this film, and I now would like my 3 year old to watch it and see what happens. Our perception has been "de-trained" by the fast pace of cheap media and the Hollywood approach. There are great things about this pace but it would be interesting to retrain ourselves to get something out of poetry and arts that offer us alternatives to it.

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Frankie Leese said...

Posted on Nov 06 2009 10:42 This is quite clearly a film thats purpose lies beneath the immediate action witnessed on screen. Those who attest that 'nothing happens' need to watch the film again and try reading deeper.

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Vincent said...

Posted on Sep 07 2008 00:11 Masterfully paced — just when you think you can't take any more of some impossibly boring scene (for instance mum doing her eyelashes, no dialogue, nothing) just as your mind starts to go numb, it thankfully ends. I've realised the only redeeming feature of this movie is that it serves to make your own life seem incredibly interesting and rich and vibrant by comparison.

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pauline E said...

Posted on May 08 2008 22:55 I was bored from beginning to end - I wanted it to end. I found the music annoying and the fact that nothing really happens. As for examining the minutiae of life .. ok it did that. Paris as a bustling every day lived in place I suppose was shown. But, I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a night out at the movies. Perhaps ok if you want to discuss the methods etc in detail of its construction. Good possibly for film/art/media students.

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Hazel x said...

Posted on Mar 25 2008 17:15 Is it anything to do with a balloon?

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