AFI 2007

by Ari

 The Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

Hou Hsiao-hsien's The Flight of the Red Balloon is yet another gracefully made personal drama comprised of intimate moments and quiet, subtle character interactions. Loosely based on the 1956 short La Ballon Rouge by Albert Lamorisse, this updated version focuses on the lives of a young boy named Simon (Simon Iteanu), his loving but constantly preoccupied mother Suzanne (Juliette Binoche), and his quiet new nanny, Song (Song Fang), who moved to Paris to continue studying film and speaks fluent French. What I love about Hou Hsiao-hsien’s films is how they observe the characters. His films don’t really concern plot in the traditional sense but instead prefer to follow and live with the characters as you would in real life. The dialogue is loose, the performances are very natural and real - the overall tone is relaxed and poetic.

That particular touch is the work of a supreme talent, a filmmaker so in control of his craft that it becomes effortlessly absorbing. You escape into this film, whether it’s through the small details of Suzanne’s apartment or the many beautiful moments between Simon and his older sister. The camera lingers with the characters as if it was allowed access to these people for a documentary. There’s a subtle elegance to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s direction that makes the comparison to Yasujiro Ozu so easy. Cafe Lumiere (one of my ten favorite films of the decade) is dedicated to the great Japanese master and Flight of the Red Balloon is closest to that sensibility. It’s more accessible than his beautifully realized but very deliberately paced Flowers of Shanghai, but it’s still something I would have to call an acquired taste. Admirers of Hou Hsiao-hsien will undoubtedly respond to Flight of the Red Balloon’s artistic ambitions, but audiences unfamiliar with his work may have trouble adapting to his style (the audience I saw it with mildly applauded at the end and people outside the theater looked more baffled than excited).

The film opens with Simon talking to a mysterious red balloon hovering around the entrance to a subway station. The balloon follows him throughout the film and emerges at some odd, surprising times. Song films the boy with her camera, making her own red balloon movie where she explains how the filmmakers accomplish the visual effects (a dude in a green suit holds the balloon and they erase him in post). Meanwhile Suzanne is having trouble with her husband’s friend who lives in the room below her apartment. He’s skipping payments and she wants to evict him. Speaking of her husband, he’s away for work most of the time, leaving the responsibility of Simon to her alone. Suzanne's work as a voice actress consumes a large portion of her time, so while she loves Simon, the boy is a bit neglected.

The dynamic between Suzanne and her son is the most interesting thing about the story. Juliette Binoche is one of our great living actresses, so it’s no surprise that she’s superb in this role. The boy, Simon Iteanu, is charming and sweet as he watches all of the adult problems around him. At one point Suzanne expresses her frustration to her husband over the phone. She yells, “I need a man by my side”. A few moments later a small voice in the background says “I’m a man”, then contemplates the situation further and corrects himself, “Well, I’m a boy”. The film is filled with delicate little touches like this. The three characters - Suzanne, Simon and Song - all face similar experiences of loneliness and isolation. The strange but fascinating red balloon is an effective metaphor for their emotions.

Beautifully shot and performed, The Flight of the Red Balloon is one of the year’s most pleasurable experiences.