The Red Shoes: Agonizing Euphoria

It must be very painful to always wear pointe shoes and appear as if no effort has been exerted in leaping, spinning and restraining oneself to strangle a demanding director. After all, ballerinas are dainty graceful artists that have mastered deceiving us all that they are immaculate. I need to tell you that was never the case for Victoria Page in the 1948 production of The Red Shoes.

The story goes with an aspiring ballerina, Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), wide-eyed and devoted to her craft. She introduces herself, with little chance, to a prestigious ballet company. But she charms the director, Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), anyway with her determination. At the same time, young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) was recruited as well by Boris. Both Vicky and Julian impressed Boris to say the least, and they land important roles in the new production of The Red Shoes. Vicky as the prima ballerina, and Julian as the composer. The pressures of their performance collide with romantic friction among the three. Julian and Vicky fall in love with each other, but Boris intervenes as he has grown possessive behavior for Vicky. In his jealousy (romantic or not) and anger, he becomes imperious. He puts Vicky under pressure to choose her art over the person she loves: a distraction to her career as a dancer.

If there is ever a standard list of adapted film or screenplay, The Red Shoes should be included because of its faithfulness and artistic liberty to the original Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. I say that with no loose strings because even though artistically the movie is unique and had elements different from the source, it remained loyal to the essence and moral of the fairy tale. Trust my word because when you watch the movie, there will be no need to read the original fairy tale unlike other movie adaptations that force you to refer to its instruction manual.

Faithful yet original- that is the style I've observed from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's films. The way The Red Shoes illustrated its fairy tale inspiration is very straightforward. In fact, one of the main characters, ballet director Boris Lermontov, frankly spells out the entire storyline when he confides to his music composer the nature of the play that they will be producing.

In other Archer Films (or as we can establish, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger films) such as I Know Where I'm Going, Black Narcissus and The Tales of Hoffmann, there is always a moment where a character mentions a folklore or mythology that the movie revolves around. Throughout their body of work, MP and EP have shown us their mastery of the art of foreshadowing and metaphors. For some, this is lazy writing that spoon-feeds the audience. But for me, it all works around to elaborate a subtle universe that in its core has the very essence and message of the story. You must be fully obsessed to dig it all out, like what I am doing right now.

This movie, as well as its fairy tale inspiration, is a story about desire. Desire to be an excellent dancer, desire to take control over people, desire to make music and art. In the objective eye, the characters in this movie are motivated and driven, thus perfect archetypal characters. It is very clear they want something and they are actively pursuing their wants. But soon destruction befalls onto them: the red shoes, their agony and fervor. This is a classic story structure with characters that are defined by their motives are also facing challenges. We are glued to this story structure because we want to figure out if they succeed or not.

The one thing I can always say that justifies this movie as exceptional is the fact that it follows the rules of filmmaking, but also breaks the rules. In the book "Story" by Robert McKee, there is a principle that states a film is good if it is balanced. I believe The Red Shoes is exactly balanced because it combined art and commercial with ease. This is not an art-house film, nor is it a factory-made mainstream film. It is a combination of both that works so well to be loved by both casual movie-goers and film experts.

I love this movie because of how visual everything was. It did not rely on plot and dialogue alone to deliver the story. Its images can stand alone to tell us the story. I appreciate films that utilize everything it has from the production design, to music, to the performance, and to simple costumes like the red shoes. The shoes had character. They were alive and had a massive purpose in the film. This is something I've learned and also want to replicate when I make my own projects. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger gave power to an inanimate object, and that is something difficult to achieve in film where everything that needs to impact must have dialogue, tension or shock. Those red shoes had none of that. They were just... red. But they controlled the story, anyway.

But that will never be achieved without great directors, great performers who used every part of their bodies, great production design, and great cinematography. Technicolor can not be avoided here because cinematographer Jack Cardiff gave this movie a distinct, elusive and luscious color. They even say this is Technicolor's finest work. You can tell by how those damn shoes look so red.

This movie has been a favorite of mine from the time I watched it. Being a Martin Scorsese fan, I intended to watch The Red Shoes because he has stated a few times that it is one of his favorite movies. At first I didn't pay attention to this information, but as I listened more to Scorsese, I was convinced that it is essential for movie lovers to watch it. The man is obsessed himself. He is the person responsible for restoring the movie and it took 7 years for his team to accomplish the task. It was a hard task because the film was in very bad condition back then.

To have gone through so many efforts in restoring the film must only mean it is wonderful.

This day marks the 71st year since the end of their production date, Nov. 21, 1947. Another year to admire the fanatic tension over passionate characters, believing a lie that convinces them that pain is worth it. As for Vicky Page and the tormented characters in The Red Shoes, they do not know the difference between agony and euphoria.

Over time, my knowledge in film will be much more sufficient to describe exactly why I love movies, and this one of course. And maybe I'll develop a clever way of reviewing movies, who knows? For now, all I know is that this movie is so amazing that honestly, I've had a hard time explaining why. I thought that if I can show this clip to you, I will convince you right away, so here you go:

Photo credits:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/mediaviewer/rm2630939904

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/mediaviewer/rm1579354112

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/mediaviewer/rm740493312

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/mediaviewer/rm3219915520

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/mediaviewer/rm2664494336