Freeze Frame: THE RED SHOES

I’ve done a lot of crazy things in the name of creating content for this space. In some ways, trying to sum up THE RED SHOES in a single image might be the craziest thing I’ve attempted. The film is so well-stocked with glorious images, that one could likely close their eyes, hit pause at a random moment, and still come up smiling. That luxury also makes it hard to settle on just one – even as I type, I’m having second thoughts.

I double-clutch because I fear I’m being too literal. The film is called THE RED SHOES, so picking a shot of the red shoes is a tad on-the-nose, right? Perhaps, but for me this melancholy moment that ends the titular ballet – the production within the production – embodies much of what this film wants to say amidst its melodrama  about art, obsession, and the cost of both.

Within the faery tale that gives the ballet its plot, our heroine is given the chance to dance with seemingly endless passion and beauty. Since dancing is something that gives her such joy, accepting the offer (via the magical red shoes) is a no-brainer. There are consequences to be paid, and unbeknownst to the heroine, the consequences will come for the dancer – not the dance. Thus when it’s all over, the dancer might be done for, but the dance lives on.

Powell and Pressburger do a masterful job at mirroring this faery tale in a larger story. The exaggeration and lavishness of a faery tale is gloriously echoed in THE RED SHOES’ staging in all its Technicolor splendour. While it’s difficult to resist the wildly expressive faces Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook  dot this film with, I feel like they are playing second fiddle to the lead character in the story: the art of dance itself. So in choosing one frame, I felt it best to choose a frame highlighting the art, not the artists.

A dancer I used to know once said that dance was the truest form of art, because it was the only artistic expression that the artists used their entire body to express. She’s not wrong. What certain artists are able to do with their bodies is astounding – so astounding in fact that their bodies will often rebel against them and make them pay for it dearly.

What other art form is so vicious? What other art allows the artist such a small window with which to work? Forget about the politics involved, forget about the personal drama that might ensue – they are all ripples of the viciousness this art form comes packaged with.

Once dance is done with a dancer…once it has chewed them up and spit them out…the dance does not stop. The shoes – red or any other colour – are merely taken off and set aside.

Sitting in a spotlight, they wait; at the ready for the next dancer daring enough to put them on.

Here’s three more from THE RED SHOES for the road…

This series of posts is inspired by the “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” series at The Film Experience. Do check out all of the awesome entires in their series so far