About this product

Product Information

Contains the film FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON and its inspiration, THE RED BALLOON. In FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON Juliette Binoche stars as Suzanne, a single mother living in Paris, doing her best to raise her seven-year-old son, Simon (Simon Iteanu), while preparing her latest puppet show, based on the Yuan Dynasty story of Zhang Yu and his beloved, Qiong Lian. Suzanne hires Song (Song Fang), a Taiwanese film student, to come to Paris to take care of Simon. Song goes everywhere with her camera, filming everything she sees. Meanwhile, Simon is being followed by a red balloon that has grown attached to the boy. The balloon, which seems to have its own personality, hovers over the boy and his family as Suzanne struggles with her daily life, fighting with tenants who owe back rent, moving a piano, and getting ready for the puppet show.

Product Identifiers

EAN5027626290047

eBay Product ID (ePID)70290558

Product Key Features

ActorHippolyte Girardot, Song Fang, Simon Iteanu, Louise Margolin, Juliette Binoche

Film/TV TitleFlight of the Red Balloon/The Red Balloon

DirectorHou Hsaio-Hsien, Albert Lamorisse

LanguageEnglish

Subtitle LanguageEnglish

Run Time143 Mins

Aspect Ratio1.33 Full Screen\16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen

FormatDVD

Release Year2008

FeaturesWidescreen, Original Theatrical Trailer, With Subtitles

GenreDrama, General

Additional Product Features

Number of Discs2

CertificatePG

Country/Region of ManufactureFrance

Additional InformationContains the film FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON and its inspiration, THE RED BALLOON.<BR>In 1956, Albert Lamorisse made THE RED BALLOON, a short in which a young boy, played by his son, makes friends with a red balloon. Some 50 years later, Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao Hsien has made his first French-language film, the charming and subtle FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON, commissioned by the Musee d'Orsay and inspired by Lamorisse's children's classic. A blonde Juliette Binoche stars as Suzanne, a single mother living in Paris, doing her best to raise her seven-year-old son, Simon (Simon Iteanu), while preparing her latest puppet show, based on the Yuan Dynasty story of Zhang Yu and his beloved, Qiong Lian. Suzanne hires Song (Song Fang), a Taiwanese film student, to come to Paris to take care of Simon. Song goes everywhere with her camera, filming everything she sees. Meanwhile, Simon is being followed by a red balloon that has grown attached to the boy. The balloon, which seems to have its own personality, hovers over the boy and his family as Suzanne struggles with her daily life, fighting with tenants who owe back rent, moving a piano, and getting ready for the puppet show. Hou, the director of such widely acclaimed films as THE PUPPETMASTER, FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI, and CAFE LUMIERE, has created a touching, beautiful film in FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON, which opened the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was also selected for that year's New York Film Festival. Not only does the balloon serve as a character unto itself but so does the city of Paris as Song and Simon walk through the streets and ride the train. All the dialogue in the film is improvised, shot in long takes by cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing; Hou provided each of the actors with the general scenario and back story and then had them fill in the dialogue and movement themselves, adding a natural authenticity to the film.<BR>Perfect for all ages, THE RED BALLOON is a beautiful French short with music and sound but no dialogue. The focal point is a bright red balloon, the psychological companion of a young French boy as he goes to school and plays with his friends. This classic won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Sound sourceDolby Digital 5.1\Mono

Movie/TV TitleFlight Of The Red Balloon/The Red Balloon

Director of PhotographyMark Lee Ping Bin