“The Red Balloon” is a 34-minute short film (shot in 35 millimeters, that’s nearly a kilometer of film!). This comedy, marked by realism, was directed, written, and produced by Albert Lamorisse (1922-1970). Released in theaters in 1956, it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival the same year, along with many other awards.
It is also a family affair since the main character, Pascal, is the director’s son, and his daughter Sabine has a small role at the 20th minute, where she is seen walking with a blue balloon to meet her brother. The twin boys, with red caps and blue balloons at the 30th minute, are the nephews (David and Renaud) of the cinematographer Edmond Séchan. The film can be found in its entirety on the internet, allowing viewers to travel back in time while recognizing certain locations. The Rue Vilin with its stairs and empty lots, now the Belleville Park where children used to play, have disappeared. However, other sites are still there, updated from the post-war era. Here is a selection:
- The Pyrénées-Ménilmontant bus stop at the rear platform, in front of the wall of the Baudoin Square, now dedicated to street art.
- Pascal’s communal school, the hero’s, disappeared due to the neighborhood renovation of the Place des Fêtes. It was not an oasis school like today, but a chestnut tree school. After class, the children would play with chestnuts in the courtyard.
- The bailiff of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Croix church in Ménilmontant. A vanished profession.
- The Séchan twins. Here’s what singer Renaud Séchan said about it: “It was in this film that I got my first role: I was three years old and my uncle was the cinematographer on the film. They needed twins for extras: walking in the street with a little balloon in hand and suddenly the balloon would fly away to join all the balloons of Paris, carrying the little child, the film’s hero, into the sky.”
The poetic imagery of the red balloon can also be found, in 2002, in the work of the street artist Banksy. He chose a little girl and gave the balloon the shape of a heart, but isn’t the message the same as in the old film of our neighborhoods?
-Alain Marcel Dequier
Fact Check notes:
- The film “The Red Balloon” was indeed directed, written, and produced by Albert Lamorisse.
- The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956.
