It's been quite some time since we had seen Albert Lamorisse's classic film, The Red Balloon so we were a bit fuzzy as to what happens but we do remember being simultaneously captured and saddened by the short film. Still, our son (who will be four next month) was interested and wanted to watch it...
The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse
The story deals with a young boy who finds a red balloon on his way to school one morning. The balloon, with a life all its own, then follows the boy through the streets of Paris and the two form a quick bond.
While watching the movie, our son was intrigued and the memories of the entire movie came flooding back to us as we watched when a group of unruly boys suddenly begin to try to pop the balloon. Our son, as well as we, were turning away in a panic and turning the movie off.
New York Times critic, Bosley Crowther wrote of The Red Balloon and director Albert Lamorisse, "...with the gray-blue atmosphere of an old Paris quarter as the background for the shiny balloon, he has got here a tender, humorous drama of the ingenuousness of a child and, indeed, a poignant symbolization of dreams and the cruelty of those who puncture them." Well, that may be the case but even though the movie ultimately has a happy ending, we (as well as our inner child) couldn't finish watching it.
Have your children seen The Red Balloon? What was their reaction? What's your The Red Balloon memory?
Comments (13)
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I remember this movie and loved it.
Back when I was teaching, I looked on Ebay for the movie. I paid a pretty penny for a VHS tape of it and it now sits in my cupboard at home. My son has seen it. It's so great how such a simple movie can grasp the attention of even the littlest of children (and adults too!)
view RecipeGirl's profile
Magical. I can't believe that it was only 4 minutes long! Obviously, I haven't seen it in years. I still love red balloons --I've even tried to buy one from Nordstroms during their annual sale.
view Green Me's profile
I found this on VHS at a store in the Newark airport and have treasured it ever since. Our kids (4 and 2) are just starting to watch it and are already as in love with it as we are!
view pohoiki808's profile
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh! Had to watch this when we our freshman spanish class flooded. Our spanish teacher hated spanish but loved teaching french. What should have been a fun 4 hours of messing around turned into a snooooooze fest with this film looping over and over. Turned me of balloons and Frenchiness until adulthood.
view chusmabilly's profile
I remember this film! Though it scared me when I was young I'd love to watch it again now.
view Button's profile
Chusmabilly - four hours?! Goodness gracious.
view Panky Snow's profile
I found the book at a thrift store and excitedly sat down to read it to my son. It was not the pretty little tale I remembered. I censored it and made up my own story until I became uncomfortable with the photos and ultimately put in down in favor of something less intense. If my son was dealing with issues of bullying I might read it to him but I didn't think it was the right venue to introduce the topic to him.
It reminds me of another movie from my childhood. The Boy with the Green Hair. I bet that would stink too if I watched it today.
view paperdollsforboys's profile
i'm not sure where the 4hr or 4 min comments come from, it seemed to me to run about 1/2 an hr. my 3 yr old loves this film. at this age she still just sorts people into "mean" or "lovely", but it gave us a chance to talk about how kids become so "mean". it's not as if babies start out that way. unless you want to watch another movie i remember seeing as a kid, "the bad seed"...eek
view kato's profile
Coincidentally, a bunch of adult were talking about this film at a party over the weekend. It was recently released for the first time on dvd by Criterion.
http://store.criterion.com/product/show/31756
p.s. It's 34 minutes long.
view CMcB's profile
We picked this up from Netflix a couple of months ago and kept it for over a week because my then 3.5 year old loved it so much. He didn't seem to bothered by the mean kids and unless I'm not remembering correctly it's nothing more than your run of the mill bullying. I think, like other commenters, that it would be the perfect opportunity to talk about how we do and don't treat people and what to do when others treat us poorly.
view jessijump's profile
We just tried to watch this with my almost-4-year-old, and she was so upset when the boy and his mother? grandmother? went into church without the balloon, we knew we would have to "adjust" the ending. She's used to our DVR cutting off when a show is done, so when it "cut off" at the "end" when the boy was walking home happily ever after with his balloon it didn't seem to phase her. We feel a little guilty about this, but given that I'm still traumatized after watching the beginning of Bambi at her age, it's a fib we can live with...!
view amyb's profile
the concept of misleading children about a story saddens me. children can - and must - handle disappointment. it's not a muscle you can build through avoidance.
i saw this flick a lot in nursery school and primary school. always loved it. isn't there a point where the red balloon meets a blue balloon, or is that another movie?
if i worked, or lived, with children i'd want as many foreign children films around as possible. it would be wonderful to show them different languages, architecture and clothing than their own.
view Lady J's profile
Lady J, until you have children of your own it's really hard to gauge what you would or wouldn't do for them. Children can handle many things, but everything at its appropriate time. Timing is everything and every child is different.
BTW, there are no words spoken in this movie except for "balloon"
view Panky Snow's profile