France/Taiwan, 2007
Starring Juliette Binoche, Fang Song, and Hippolyte Girardot. In French and Mandarin with English subtitles.

Flight of the Red Ballon (Le voyage du ballon rouge) marks Hou Hsiao-hsien's first film shot outside of Asia. Nonetheless, his trademark light touch and powers of observation once again focus more on capturing life as it passes by, rather than telling stories.

Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) is a Parisian puppeteer and mother to the mellow Simon (Simon Iteanu). She hires the bilingual Song (Fang Song), a former Beijing film student fluent in French, as her nanny.

The placid Song serves as a counterpoint to the scattered, disheveled, and volatile Suzanne, who channels her turbulence into her vocal performances for puppets. While Suzanne blusters about—upset about problematic tenants, angry at her ex, meeting with a visiting Chinese puppeteer—Song takes Simon around town, making a film of her own.

Based upon Albert Lamorisse's 1956 fantasy short film "The Red Balloon", in which a Parisian boy befriends a sentient red balloon, a similar red balloon follows Simon and Song as they go about their business.

Unlike the short film, in which the balloon is a constant companion and even a main character, the balloon in Hou's film serves more as a shy, background observer, sometimes adding a whimsical touch to the proceedings and often vanishing for extended periods.

The film becomes an echo chamber of sorts, with Song's filmmaking mirroring Hou making a film inspired by Lamorisse's film; Suzanne's puppetry and the Chinese puppeteer a reference to Hou's 1993 film The Puppetmaster and a parallel to how red balloon is animated; and the low-key Song reflected in the unobtrusive nature of the balloon, which could also stand-in for Hou himself as an outsider looking in on a foreign culture.

With the focus on the daily activities and minute dramas of the trio, the cumulative impact of the piece is akin to visiting with someone, spending time with them, and getting a feel for the place as one leisurely floats through shifts in mood and tone.

Flight of the Red Balloon plays as part of Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien at the Cinematheque on March 7 (6:30 p.m.) and 11 (8:30 p.m.).