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Parents' Guide to

Flight of the Red Balloon

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Beautifully shot art-house drama won't interest young kids.

Movie NR 2008 114 minutes
Flight of the Red Balloon Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

Parisian puppet theater actress Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) is a harried single mother, so she hires a new babysitter named Song (Song Fang) to watch over her young son Simon (Simon Iteanu). While Suzanne juggles her professional ambition with her obligations as a landlord, and more importantly, as a mother, Song and Simon bond. The nanny and her charge use a video camera to capture their everyday treks around Paris, and notice a red balloon is often floating just above their heads.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

With gorgeous cinematography, spare dialogue, and untraditional plot (nothing much happens), Chinese director Hsiao-hsien Hou's French-language film is definitely an art-house cinema's dream. The luscious camera work alone is worth the rental price, but the plot is a bit too thin for most American audiences used to action-driven fare.

More of a tribute to than a remake of the classic 1956 French film The Red Balloon, Hou's version focuses less on the ever-presence of the flying balloon and more on the keenly observant eyes of Simon and Song. Families interested in introducing their children to the delight of foreign films should start with the original and leave this one until their teenagers are true cineastes.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the movie's artful depiction of life in France, puppetry, and photography/filmmaking.

  • The mother's regular smoking could be framed within the context of European culture versus the United States' increasing "no smoking" culture. What are the cultural differences and similarities between life in France and life in the United States?

  • How is the son's absent father depicted? How is this unconventional family portrayed?

  • What do you think the red balloon symbolizes in the film?

Movie Details

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