A highlight at the 2007 Cannes, Toronto and New York film festivals, Le voyage du ballon rouge (Flight of the Red Balloon) is a masterpiece from renowned director Hou Hsiao Hsien, featuring what is widely regarded to be one of Juliette Binoche’s finest performances.

Inspired by Albert Lamorisse's 1956 Oscar Winning classic, Le Ballon rouge, Hou expands on its key elements - a young boy, a red balloon and Paris - to weave an achingly beautiful tale on the mysteries of familial bonds, the healing power of art and the lingering effects the past has on all of us throughout our lives.

A young boy, Simon (Simon Iteanu) must deal with the increasing fragility of his mother, the loving yet preoccupied Suzanne (Juliette Binoche). Completely immersed in her own tribulations, Suzanne hires Song (Song Fang), a Taiwanese film student, to help care for Simon. While she battle with her downstairs tenant Marc (Hippolyte Girardot), and tries to make contact with her daughter Louise in Brussels and her wayward partner who has been absent for some time, Song and Simon bond as they explore the streets and parks of Paris, all the while accompanied by a mysterious red balloon.

Together with Song, a unique extended family is formed, utterly interdependent yet lost in separate thoughts and dreams mirrored by the delicate, shiny red balloon.

Le voyage du ballon rouge is a subtle and soothing tour de force.