The ballet is a spectacular success, and as Vicky and Julian are thrust together during the preparations for the new production, a romance between them unsurprisingly blossoms. Lermontov is once again furious with what he perceives as his new muse's betrayal of him. Unlike Boronskaja, though, he presents her with a choice: married life with Julian or become a great dancer under his tutelage. And thus, he has transformed from the charming, inscrutable figure at the start of the film into tragic villain by the end, undone by his own pride and perfectionism, much like Charles Foster Kane in another film.
The Red Shoes was not an immediate success on release, despite the name that Powell and Pressburger had forged for themselves on the back of hits A Matter of Life and Death [aka Stairway to Heaven] (1946) and Black Narcissus (1947). J Arthur Rank saw such little commercial potential in the film that he left its initial screening without saying a word to the directors, and subsequently only supplied one print for the entire US market. That print went on to screen continuously in a small New York cinema for nearly two years before it gained a wider distribution, and eventually went on to win two Oscars, as well as opening up ballet to a younger, much wider audience.
The film's enduring critical appeal stems from the darkness and ambiguity of the Lermontov character, played with sympathy by Anton Walbrook. His fall is one of the most tragic in screen history, without any doubt up there with the likes of Citizen Kane (1941) and The Godfather (1972), and as an examination of the process and problematic nature of artistic creation, it can also be placed alongside Fellini's 8 ½ (1963).
And yet, the continuing popular image of the film is not one of tragedy but great joy. This is, of course, thanks in no small part to its lush bombardment of the senses: Brian Easdale's magnificent Oscar-winning score, the physical splendour of the cast of famed ballet dancers Robert Helpmann, Léonide Massine, and Ludmilla Tchérina alongside the ravishingly beautiful Moira Shearer in the lead role, all captured in dazzling Technicolor by cinematographer Jack Cardiff.
Cardiff, who died last month, had already pushed back the boundaries of visual possibilities on Powell and Pressburger's last two films, but this would become his most loved work. The film's centrepiece, the 17-minute Red Shoes ballet, is quite the most extraordinary montage of dance, motion, light, colour, and in-camera wizardry, set on a stage but defying it by every means, transporting the dancer to a nightmarish nether-world where she floats, soars, plummets, and dances to her eventual death. The camera completely eschews objectivity, immersing the viewer in subjective visions. The expressionistic use of colour was unlike anything seen before, and would notably resurface in Scorsese's own Mean Streets (1973), while the choreography would be an influence on the filming of Raging Bull (1980).
Article comments
1 - Harley Davidson
This is an utterly fantastic movie. The review doesn't come out and say it. But it never did make any money! And the ballet was awesome. This is dismissed in the review as well. Perhaps the reviewer should dance The Red Shoes, himself. :)