By Hou Hsiao-hsien. With Juliette Binoche, Simon Iteanu, Song Fang. 2007. 113 minutes. In French with English subtitles
Inspired by Albert Lamorisse’s classic 1956 short THE RED BALLOON, the film begins with a mysterious balloon affectionately following 7-year-old Simon (Simon Iteanu) around Paris. A precocious, wide-eyed boy, Simon lives in a shared split-level flat with his mother Suzanne (Juliette Binoche), a puppeteer and voice performer. Completely absorbed by her new show, single-mother Suzanne hires Song (Song Fan), a Taiwanese film student, to help care for Simon. They come to form a unique extended family, thoroughly interdependent yet all lost in separate thoughts and dreams.
The fluid, unparalleled elegance of Hou’s camerawork finds grace in the simplest of details, and gently discovers a Paris previously unseen. Playing a flawed but disarmingly honest woman struggling to find her footing, Binoche is utterly hypnotic, and has never been better.
“A quiet, unassuming and flawless tribute to Paris, to the spirit of childhood and to the ability of art to compensate for some of the painful imperfections of life.” –A.O. Scott, New York Times
IFC Center 323 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10014
11:35am | 12:50pm | 3:00pm | 5:25pm | 6:00pm | 7:50pm | 10:10pm | 12:25am
Paris Theatre 4 West 58th Street New York, NY 10019
11:45am | 2:10pm | 4:50pm | 7:30pm | 9:55pm
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