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The Red Shoes Movie Review

The Red Shoes is a 1945 drama film directed by Powell and Pressburger and starring Moira Shearer in the main role. It is one of the directing duo’s biggest accomplishments.

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“The music is all that matters.

Nothing but the music“

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A young ballerina is torn between her art and her romance with a young composer. This film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning for score and art direction deservedly so. It’s quite possibly the directors’ finest film after ‘Black Narcissus’ and one of their most artistic achievements.

The central theme here is art versus life. The film poses the question whether or not art is worth dying for. Its main conflict is one between personal life and art, the latter can also function for work or business, so the movie must be very relatable for audiences today in this individualistic, career-driven world that we are living in.

The movie is famous for including an entire ballet within its over two-hour runtime. The ballet is 17 minutes long, but it’s not boring per say. It is quite riveting due to the sheer artistry on display as we witness the little details about the heroine’s life pop around her while she is dancing. The editing was particularly strong during this segment, though it did not result in an Oscar win.

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The reason why I do not find this film to be a masterpiece in the same vein as their ‘Black Narcissus’ is lies in its thin plot and poor pacing. The film is really rather simple when you think about it, so it had no legitimate reason to be over two hours long. It has just one central conflict and theme to concern itself with, lacking in additional subplots and characters that this staggering runtime demands.

This resulted in somewhat slow, at times even glacial pacing, which prevented me from enjoying the film more. There are stretches in the first half where I was quite bored as the rehearsals were never-ending and there was no need for those scenes to be as detailed as they were. They negatively impacted the characterization and flow of the film.

But the second half is where the film finally garnered momentum. This is where its artistry was best showcased and the power of the timeless theme explored more in depth. The ballet was magnificent, but that final scene is the highlight of the movie as we follow the heroine run away and jump to her death. As we follow her, we are seeing the shoes themselves in full focus, which was a terrific choice as it signaled their role in her demise. It’s a typically shocking twist ending that the directors were famous for and it elevated the movie from an artsy drama to a potent, eternal tragedy. It also fitted the narrative roots of a fairy tale as it’s based on the titular tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

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Moira Shearer was very memorable and even striking in the main role of the tragic ballerina. Her physicality was particularly commendable. Marius Goring was solid himself while Anton Walbrook was very effective in what is pretty much a villain role. The Red Shoes features powerful directing and impressive technicalities all around – the production design is mesmerizing, featuring sets and small details that are eye-popping and unforgettable, the costumes are gorgeous, the score is timeless, and of course the cinematography is highly accomplished and fluid. Rare were filmmakers who could rival Powell and Pressburger in the Technicolor realm as their movies looked like dreams come true and this was one of their most colorful and most artistic efforts.