The Red Balloon
| The Red Balloon | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Albert Lamorisse |
| Produced by | Albert Lamorisse |
| Screenplay by | Albert Lamorisse |
| Starring | Pascal Lamorisse |
| Music by | Maurice Le Roux |
| Cinematography | Edmond Séchan |
| Edited by | Pierre Gillette |
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Production
company |
Films Montsouris
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| Distributed by | Lopert Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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35 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
The Red Balloon (French: Le Ballon Rouge) is a 1956 French fantasy comedy-drama featurette written, produced, and directed by Albert Lamorisse. The thirty-five-minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighbourhood of Paris.
Lamorisse used his children as actors in the film. His son, Pascal, plays himself in the main role, and his daughter, Sabine, portrays a little girl.
The film won numerous awards, including an Oscar for Lamorisse for writing the best original screenplay in 1956 and the Palme d'Or for short films at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. It also became popular with children and educators. It is the only short film to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and to receive a nomination for anything besides Best Live Action Short Film.
The film, which has a music score but almost no dialogue, tells of Pascal (Pascal Lamorisse), who, on his way to school one morning, discovers a large helium-filled, extremely spherical, red balloon.
As Pascal plays with his new found toy, he realizes it has a mind and will of its own. It begins to follow him wherever he goes, and not rise, at times floating outside his bedroom window, as his grandmother will not allow it in their apartment.
The balloon follows Pascal through the streets of Paris, and they draw inquisitive looks from adults and the envy of other children as they wander the streets. At one point it enters his classroom, causing an uproar from his classmates. The noise alerts the principal, who becomes angry with him and locks him up in his office until school is over. At another, he and the balloon encounter a little girl (Sabine Lamorisse) with a blue one that also seems to have a mind of its own too, as evidenced by its act of following his.
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Wikipedia