Le+Ballon+Rouge


 * Le Ballon Rouge: Dénouement **

// Dénouement // : a French expression meaning literally “to un-knot”, or, figuratively, to resolve or explain.

Denouement migrated into English and has come to mean “finale, culmination, conclusion, outcome”. At first glance, the fifties French film, //Le Ballon Rouge,// appears to depict the fleeting, innocent relationship between a whimsical boy and a stray red balloon. Then, as we follow child and balloon through the pockmarked Parisian streets, a more complex, spiritual liaison unfolds: Pascal’s inner thoughts, will, and desire are seemingly manifested in the deliberate exploits of his floating alter ego. Inevitably, the child’s spontaneous fantasy is intruded upon by a world of stern officious men in dark hats and rascally boys in shorts. Assailed by the oppression of the crowd, Pascal’s inspiration withers, and, about to expire, is violently quashed. And then. . . from death comes resurrection and new light. Un dénouement d’inspiration.

Is this an accurate depiction of the petite histoire of Le Ballon Rouge? What to make of the boy, who, though tenuously connected to home, family, and a societal routine, seems maturely independent and self-determining? And what of the mysterious balloon? Is this buoyant red sphere simply a reflection of the spirit of Pascal, or is this curious gleaming globe, so strikingly contrasted to the gray urban landscape of postwar Paris, some transcending connection to another world? The film bears the name of the balloon and not the child.

Pourquoi? Et, alors, pourquoi un ballon **//rouge//**? Et. . . de quoi penses-tu?

Ruminate, speculate, perseverate, formulate. . . a response.

Due: ? Length: assez long.