Hou's homage to Albert Lamorisse's 1956 film "The Red Balloon" does have a red balloon, a little boy, and Paris, but Simon (Iteanu) doesn't wander the streets accompanied by the balloon so much as he wanders with his new nanny Song (Fang), a Taiwanese film student who serves as Hou's calm observer. Simon's single mom is frazzled bleach-blonde Suzanne (Binoche), who doesn't seem to be coping with her son, her career, or her emotions very well. Not much actually happens so the film can be something of a slog but it looks beautiful. French with subtitles.