Movie Details
Directed by the acclaimed Hou Hsiao Hsien (CafÈ Lumiere, City of Sadness), starring Juliette Binoche (Chocolat, Three Colours: Blue), with a phenomenal performance by newcomer Simon Iteanu and inspired by the 1953 Palme D’or and Academy Award winning short The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse, the film has also been described as “poetically moving” (Time Out) and “Exquisitely crafted” (Empire).
A mysterious red balloon affectionately follows seven-year old Simon (Simon Iteanu) around Paris. His mother Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) is a puppeteer who uses her vocal talents to bring life to the shows she writes. Completely absorbed in her new show, single mother Suzanne becomes overwhelmed by the complications of modern daily life. She decides to hire Song (Fang Song), a Taiwanese film student, to help her care for Simon.
Flight of the Red Balloon is the first film in a series which was initiated by the president of Paris’ Musee d’Orsay, Serge Lemoine, in conjunction with the museum’s 20th anniversary. The idea was to bring together artists and the museum’s Impressionist or Art Nouveau treasures. The prerequisite is that the museum must be present either throughout or in a scene from the film. This is how Hou Hsiao Hsien came to scout locations in Paris and why the museum features in Flight of the Red Balloon.
