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plotline
Jun 25, 2016plotline rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
On Point, Brilliantly "Put on the red shoes, Vicky...and dance for us again."- Boris Lermontov to Victoria Page in THE RED SHOES. You don't even need to like ballet to appreciate this cinematic jewel from Powell and Pressburger. This is one of those films where the central dramatic conflict can be understood by anyone with a demanding private life and an equally demanding professional life. How much time and energy can you give to each? Can you really give to each? Must you ignore or abandon one for the other? What will such a struggle do to you? With entrancing artistry the filmmakers devise a vibrant world of creativity in which the absorbing characters play out their destinies. No mistake, this is a character-driven tale wherein a beautiful, rising ballerina, already in love with her muse, is smitten, gradually, by the neophyte composer/conductor she meets in a ballet company. Presiding over the lives of these two and the others in the ballet company like an angry, uncompromising deity is the cool, cruel sophistication and intellect of the company's director, Lermontov. Lermontov, the organizing genius; Lermontov, the all-knowing; Lermontov, the unsentimental. Or is he? The film's use of color is thrilling, gorgeous. For the most part the actors are magnificent. Moira Shearer is a bit cautious in her dramatic scenes but she becomes an almost unearthly thing of beauty when dancing. Marius Goring as the young composer is witty and brooding. The role of Lermontov is critical and needed an actor of exceptional power and magnetism. Anton Walbrook sinks into the role with such passion that it is hard to imagine anyone else in the part. He is exceptional. Often cited as the most beautiful ballet film ever, THE RED SHOES is one of the most beautiful films of any kind, ever.