to Pascal's aid and take him on a cluster balloon ride over the city. Themes As the film was filmed in Paris after World War II, its mise-en-scène is quite dark and grey and therefore gives a depressing quality to the setting and mood. In contrast, the balloon's bright color acts as a symbol of hope and light within the film. The cluster balloon ride in the closing scene could also be said to represent a religious or spiritual analogy. For example, when the balloon is destroyed, its "spirit" lives on as it is transferred to all the other balloons in the city, which is said to be a metaphor for Christ. Themes of self-realisation and loneliness are also present in the film. The theme of innocence is persistent and is one of the main focuses of the film. Through a child's gaze, a cynical world is transformed into an almost magical one, highlighting the power of the innocence and imagination of children. In addition, authors such as Myles P. Breen have identified the film as having thematic/stylistic qualities that are reflective of the poetic medium. This perspective is rationalised by Breen through quoting film theorist Christian Metz, who states, “in a poem there is no story line, and nothing intrudes between the author and the reader”. The film, therefore, is categorised by Breen as being a filmic poem, partially due to its loose, non-narrative structure. Though both poems and the film could arguably be said to have a narrative. Production The film serves as a color record of the Belleville area of Paris, which had fallen into decay by the 1960s, prompting the Parisian government to demolish it as a slum-clearance effort. Part of the site was built up with housing projects; the remainder was left as wasteland for 20 years. Some of what is seen in the film no longer exists: one of the bakeries, the school, the famous shaped staircase situated just beyond the equally famous café "Au Repos de la Montagne", the steep steps of the passage Julien Lacroix where Pascal finds the balloon, and the empty lot where all the battles take place. Instead stands the Parc de Belleville. The apartment where Pascal lives with his mother, located at 15, rue du Transvaal, the church, known as the Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Croix de Ménilmontant, and the bus stop Pyrénées-Ménilmontant, located at the intersection of rue des Pyrénées