Review of Flight of the Red Balloon (2007) by Andrew B — 05 Mar 2008

This film was screened on opening night of the 2008 French Film Festival at Verona Cinemas on Oxford Street. What I received was an original, charming, touching yet overtly puzzling film that contains meanings difficult to grasp yet isolated to each viewers interpretation.

The film was dominated by Juliette Binoche's powerful presence and her electric performance is nothing short of mesmerising. She enlists a young Asian nanny to take care of her charismatic son Simon, and the two share some interesting adventures...

The cinematography is nothing short of innovative, the musical score prefect and the casting spot-on, but the plot was not fed to the audience, much was left misunderstood, and overall its fair to say that there was no real plot, just a sequence of events left unconcluded. Was the balloon following Simon, was he the only character that could see it? The long, drawn-out shots of the balloon floating through Paris became tiring by the half-point of the film. Interesting, but one that likely won't capture your heart on first viewing.