The Big Picture
One of the greatest feelings for any successful artist is the freedom to give back to that which inspired them, something that Martin Scorsese accomplished prominently when he assisted in the restoration of one of his favorite childhood classics – The Red Shoes. Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (two titans in the classic era of British filmmaking), the film is now considered one of the greatest of all time, landing last year in the top 100 of the decennial Sight & Sound poll. However, is there any point in praising a film that no one can see? This is where some of the greatest unsung work of film critics, historians, and producers come into play, not as creators or champions of new cinematic works, but as restorers of the old.
In an interview with The Independent, Martin Scorsese dubbed The Red Shoes “the film that plays in [his] heart”. When he was nine or ten years old, Scorsese senior had taken a young Marty to watch The Red Shoes, attributing his father’s interest (not a man of the ballet by any means) to the fact that everyone was talking about it at the time of its release. Several decades later, in 2006, the Killers of the Flower Moon director put his money where his mouth is and, alongside his longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker (Powell’s widow and a legend in her own right), assisted in the funding and ultimate restoration of the seminal British drama so that millions of people could see the Technicolor marvel in astounding 4k resolution. Shrinkage and mold had damaged the original negative to the extent that a digital restoration was the only viable option, where every single frame (hundreds of thousands) had to be individually reviewed and corrected to save it from an untimely death. But of all the damaged prints that Scorsese could have pulled his resources to fix, what makes The Red Shoes so special?
What Is ‘The Red Shoes’ About?
Moira Shearer shines in The Red Shoes as Victoria Page, a promising ballerina who is fast-tracked through the world-renowned Lermontov Ballet under the tutelage of its choreographer Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). She achieves international fame after their production, itself called “The Red Shoes” and based on the fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson, about a woman who becomes absorbed by vanity after her mother purchases her the titular shoes, later even neglecting her own mother’s funeral in order to dance with them. An Angel thus curses her to dance forever, something that her own amputation of her legs can’t stop. In the film, Victoria experiences a similar struggle, her fame coming with a price as she’s forced to choose between her love of dance or her love for the young composer Julian Caster (Marius Goring).
‘The Red Shoes’ Is Inarguably One of the Most Gorgeous Films Ever Made
Facts are facts and The Red Shoes being one of the most gorgeous films ever made is one of them. It’ll take but a single frame for any open-minded audience member to come to the same conclusion, even if it does insist on some outdated gender norms. For example, there’s no reason that Victoria should have to choose between married life and the ballet but unfortunately in the film, it’s still the 1940s. A commitment to imbalanced gender norms however doesn’t stop the spectacle from pouring through, peaking during a 15-minute sequence in which the entirety of the titular play-within-the-film is performed with stunning immersion. It doesn’t take a ballet enthusiast to appreciate this one as it’s so electrifying in the manner through which it transports its viewers directly onto the stage of the production, bypassing two layers of immersion, the stage-within-the-film and the film screen itself.
If that 15-minute sequence alone were the entire film, it would still echo through the annals of film history as one of the most stunning sequences ever shot. However, what the film does with that very same sequence later on deserves special praise itself. Victoria eventually chooses Lermontov over Julian, her love of dance too strong to let die. She decides to perform “The Red Shoes” again but before doing so, as Julian makes his sorry way to the train station, is overcome with the inexplicable urge to throw herself from a balcony in front of a passing train. Dramatic? Absolutely, but there’s a special ambiguity applied to the lack of knowledge about whether this was suicide or murder (by the shoes themselves).
After the incident Lermontov, tear-ridden, takes the stage of the eager audience and announces that “Miss Page is unable to dance tonight… Nor indeed any other night” but out of respect to the fact that “The Red Shoes” could never be performed without her, decides to put on the show exactly as planned, without a soul in the leading part. The result is the same (albeit abridged) sequence that played prior, so fresh in the audience’s minds, but in place of Page’s joyful balletic skill, all we see is a lone spotlight tracking the figure of a ghost. It’s just as impressive for its lavish sets and production design, but the sight of a singular spotlight on such a lavish stage proves nothing less than haunting.
How Did ‘The Red Shoes’ Influence Martin Scorsese?
Martin Scorsese was such a fan of the film that, for all the praise that the dazzling Technicolor deserves, he watched it every year for Christmas on television… in black-and-white! That goes to show while the Technicolor certainly elevates the image, the frame doesn’t need it to have an effect on its viewers. “Even though it was in black and white on TV, we saw it in color. We still felt the passion,” Scorsese recalled, and indeed, while the images speak for themselves color or not, it’s the characters that made more of an impression on him than anything. This is especially true for that of Lermontov, whose passion for his art causes him to succumb to his darker side throughout the film.
Scorsese elaborated on his fascination with Lermontov in stating in The Independent that, “There is something about the Lermontov character and the world that he controls that is, I guess, the pool that I go back to for sustenance. It has to do with the mystery of art – the mystery of the passion to create and the darker side which can take over.” Scorsese later cites the character as similar to those he himself likes to craft his films through, with his obsession with the dark side of committing one’s self wholly to their art (be it boxing, being a gangster, or stockbroking) ever present in all of Scorsese’s best works, classic and modern alike. This connection speaks to the sensitivity through which Scorsese builds his characters. Anyone who thinks that watching a ballet movie won’t help them direct an organized crime epic, think again.
It’s easy to forget sometimes that even the most powerful filmmakers are in reality just the most talented nerds in the world, many of whom can’t wait to give back to the lesser-seen works of art that inspired them to begin with. For Martin Scorsese, The Red Shoes shaped so much of his ideology when it comes to filmmaking and the stories he gravitates towards as a director. For The Red Shoes, Scorsese gave the film a second life, allowing millions to finally be able to watch the film as it was intended, rather than in a black-and-white box once a year around Christmastime. What started as a gift for him became his gift to the world, just like every movie the master has ever made.
