Why so much hype?

So much average

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.Although Michael Powell had a long career with many, many films under his belt, this is probably the one he is most associated with and remembered for. And, you have to admit, rightfully so. The color is great, as is the story and everything within.The layers are nice, as this is a movie about a ballet about a fairy tale. The scene (very brief) of the men picking out the perfect red shoes is gorgeous. And then my twisted mind wonders... what if this were a horror film? You know, a story where the shoes keep dancing even after the dancer stops?

Victoria Page is an up-and-coming young ballet dancer, seemingly headed for superstardom. She has just landed a great role, in the ballet The Red Shoes, a role that gets even better when the lead ballerina leaves and she replaces her. However, things get complicated when she falls in love with the composer of The Red Shoes. This does not sit well with the ballet's director...I really don't know what all the fuss was about. Maybe it's because I am not a huge fan of ballet, or just found all the goings-on rather pretentious, and over-dramatic, but this movie was OK, not great. Plot is pretty conventional, though drawn out. Direction is good though, for its time. Acting is like something out of a soap opera. The only plus in the casting is the beauty of Moira Shearer.

British cinema often gets criticised for its so-called narrow milieu, be it historical/period dramas, feel-good comedies, social realism & gangster films. The films of Powell & Pressburger stand apart, distinctive in the English canon, the artistic marriage in this post-Brexit age of an English maverick (eccentric individualism) to the European sensibility of the émigré Pressburger. Their retinue (such as the cinematography of Jack Cardiff) produced films that are imaginative, passionate, full of dramatic power & beauty. What struck me about 'The Red Shoes', their wonderful modern take on Andersen's tragic fairy-tale, is how ravishing it must have looked to a post-war audience worn down by war & still enduring rationing. A film cannot fill an empty stomach, but the cinematography, the bright colours & exotic locales must have been a feast for the eyes, art as both escapism & entertainment.The story is elegantly structured with the ballet segment 'The Red Shoes', a stand-alone piece on its own as entertainment but which reflects the story set in the present (Lermontov as the shoe-maker who entices the girl to wear the red shoes, the circus represents international fame). Vicky & Julian are introduced, both overcoming initial obstacles to their dreams, then begin to impress the stern task-master Lermontov before fate offers them a chance to finally realise their ambitions.'The Red Shoes' is the story of a young woman who dreams of becoming a celebrated ballerina, though in the background hovers the whisper of 'be careful what you wish for'. It is the story of Vicky's relationship with two men & the eventual conflict which sees them wrest for control of her.Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) is a fascinating character, portrayed as darkly charismatic, detached & cynical, an aesthete, a Diaghilev-svengali type of figure, who runs a world famous ballet company. He is obsessed with art to the point that he demands absolute loyalty to its precepts, even to the extreme where he denies the human, which, in itself, is a contradiction because art is in itself the deepest expression of the self, of our selves & what it is to be human. He is a control freak (the miniature ballet stage on his desk in Paris), one of the ballets referenced in a montage is 'Coppelia' based on Hoffmann, a tale about a diabolical inventor & his mechanical doll. Vicky, too, makes a diabolical pact with the Mephistophelian Lermontov as he & his travelling ballet company casts its spell over her. It will also demand a human sacrifice (Rites of Spring). In the same Paris office, a slightly sinister plaster-cast sculpture of a ballerina's foot anticipates the tragic ending.Julian Craster, in a less obvious way, also mistreats Vicky. He is impetuous & passionate, perhaps representing the emotions. Together, Craster & Lermontov produce a masterpiece & platform for Vicky's talent. After his marriage to Vicky, he returns to his work as he cannot resist the creative impulse, but fails to realise that she, too, has a need for self-expression. Both Lermontov & Craster deny Vicky her individuality: the first views her as his creation, demanding absolute loyalty, the other views her as his muse, subservient to his wishes.The ending is poignant, the ghostly last performance of 'The Red Shoes' & Vicky's final haunting request.

'The Red Shoes' directed and written by the legendary British filmmaking duo Powell-Pressburger is very often called the greatest ballet film or even the greatest dance film of all time. After watching this, I can understand why. The screenplay written by Emeric Pressburger takes inspiration from the fairy tale of the same name written by Hans Christian Andersen and it employs the story within the story technique. The storyline of the film is pretty simple but effective. We are introduced to three principal characters namely Victoria 'Vicky' Page, Boris Lermontov and Julian Craster played by Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring respectively. The film can be in a basic sense described as a love triangle between the three with the seductive ghost of dancing hovering over all of them. In a way it is a horror film too, because the central theme is something that many artists have or will face in their real lives. What do you choose between your personal life and your art? This is the question that this film asks. Even if you choose one over the other, the option that you abandon will continue to haunt you. This particular issue is beautifully conveyed visually in a long uninterrupted shot of Victoria and Julian in their bedroom towards the end of the film.The acting is good from everyone. Moira Shearer's performance off the stage when she isn't dancing is good, but when she is dancing on stage, she just becomes this almost heavenly figure with unending grace, elegance and charisma. Marius Goring is also good as this talented young composer who is eager to make his mark and won't stop till he gets what he wants. But for me the stand-out performance comes from Anton Walbrook as Lermontov. He could have easily played the role in a very generic way to make the character a standard villain in the context of the film. But the depth, charm and pathos that Walbrook brings to the character elevates him from being a generic villain to a complex, interesting human being. The issue as to why Lermontov became so adamant about what choices Victoria should make has been analysed by many critics and viewers. Roger Ebert compared Lermontov to Mephistopheles since he is willing to help Victoria all the way to make her a great dancer as long as she gives him complete and unflinching obedience in return. This analogy does make complete sense from a symbolic point of view. But for me Lermontov is a human being who is lonely and has no real connection with any human being. He hides behind his mansions and flamboyant housecoats. His ballet group is his only connection with others and his family. He loves dancing and considers it his religion. He develops an intimate relationship in his heart and mind with these dancers. He became intimate with Victoria too after discovering her talent. But this intimacy is not a romantic one as far as I am concerned. He loves them as his creations. But once he accepts them, he expects these dancers to be singularly dedicated to him and his ballet with no other distractions. This is where Lermontov's comment about dance being a religion becomes a bit of an irony in itself. He calls dancing as his religion but instead he expects the dancers to take him as their god and any semblance of 'disobedience' is blasphemy. Michael Powell's direction is absolutely unflinchingly operatic. He takes Pressburger's script and conveys it in the most dramatic manner. The film's narrative comes to a halt temporarily at a point and the famous ballet sequence starts and what follows is absolutely other-worldly. Powell dissolves the distinction between cinema and ballet. Shearer is absolutely spellbinding. The ballet itself tells you everything you have to know about how the rest of the film will move along. Powell adds some dream-like elements to the ballet sequence which doesn't make it realistic, but they do make it a form of psychedelic storytelling.This is one of the most influential films of all time and I can refer to few films that were heavily influenced by 'The Red Shoes'. 'Black Swan' is a film that owes a whole lot to Powell-Pressburger's style. When it comes to the theme, a heavy resemblance can be seen in 'Whiplash' which also deals with the dilemma of how much sacrifice is someone willing to make in his/her own personal life to pursue perfection in an art-form.My favourite Powell-Pressburger film is still 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp', but even then I consider 'The Red Shoes' to be a masterpiece and a breathtaking exploration of the life struggles of an artist. A must-see for film lovers.