My theory on The Red Balloon

Cafe Society
1

It has been at least 30 years since I’ve watched the Oscar winning short The Red Balloon. I remember, as a child, thinking how cool it would be to have a sentient balloon friend. But watching it today I had a completely different thought. Seeing all those floor to ceiling windows and all those children peering out of and reaching from them, I became frightened for them.

All the other strange things that I glossed over as a child: A young boy sharing an umbrella with a strange old man in the middle of the street, street toughs dressed in gym shorts and sandals, not being teased for wearing the same grey sweatsuit to school every day, not being able to ride a bus with a balloon. . . these things are not real things that happen in the adult world. And then the kicker at the end when our hero gets all the balloons and floats away, that’s what got me and I finally understood this movie. The little boy did reach out of his floor to ceiling window to grab a passing red balloon-- and fell to his death. We are watching his thoughts as he falls from his window.

Anyway, that’s my reading of this movie some 30 odd years later. Did you watch this in school like I did (it was al least 10 years after its release when I saw it). How old were you and are you? What did you make of it?

2

falling to his death? Likewise, I’ve not seen the movie in over 40 years, and yes I saw it in grade school. Maybe I need to see it again.

3

I linked to it in the OP, if you wanna watch it.

4

That balloon was such an asshole. First it gets the kid expelled because it wouldn’t stay put like it’s supposed to; then it acts like a trollish dick with the headmaster; and finally it gets its dumb ass killed because it was too stupid to run away from the bullies. Good riddance to bad rubbish. As for the OP’s interpretation, I think it works better if the kid fell and caved in his skull in the opening scene, when he first retrieves the balloon. The deflated balloon at the end could be symbolic of his red blood pooling on the ground as he dies. Probably not what the director intended, but yeah, I kinda like it.

Also, don’t know if this was ever an actual law in Paris, but in the film’s novelization, it’s specifically stated that balloons aren’t allowed on the bus.