Flight of the Red Balloon

Name: Flight of the Red Balloon
Genre: Drama, Family Friendly
Released: 2007
Duration: 115 min
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Hippolyte Girardot, Simon Iteanu, Fang Song, Louise Margolin

Hsiao-Hsien Hou20071h 55mDrama, Family Friendly

Why we chose it

Hou Hsiao-hsien (“The Assassin”) left Taiwan for Paris at the invitation of the Musée d’Orsay and made his first film outside Asia, with Juliette Binoche holding on with both hands to a home that keeps coming apart. Nothing is rushed, and the camera rests gently on a seven-year-old and his nanny.

Synopsis

Seven-year-old Simon lives in Paris with his mother, Suzanne, who works in a puppet theatre and is hardly ever home in the evenings. To look after him she hires Song, a film student from China, who collects him from school and stays with him until evening. Wherever their daily wanderings through the city take them, a big red balloon is always somewhere in the background.