The Red Shoes Essay Questions

Describe Powell and Pressburger's division of labor in creating The Red Shoes. How did this process differ from typical director/writer/producer relations? Where is the influence of this choice visible in the film?

Powell and Pressburger insisted on being credited as the co-writers, co-directors, and co-producers of The Red Shoes, regardless of the roles that each one actually completed. While it's generally accepted that Powell took on more of the directing while Pressburger primarily worked as the screenwriter, the pair obscure the actual division of labor by being credited equally for every role, suggesting a more communal approach to film production. This approach was revolutionary because it deviated from the typical structure of the Hollywood studio system, where creative control mainly resided with the producer, who often had a stable of writers and studio-affiliated directors at his disposal. Whereas the power relations of the Hollywood division of labor are rigidly fixed, Powell and Pressburger's more collaborative way of working imparted an egalitarian ethos, and foreshadowed the use of collaborative filmmaking as a revolutionary stance in such projects as Jean-Luc Godard's "Dziga Vertov Group." The influence of their preference for collaboration can be seen in Lermontov's character, as he is the antithesis of their collaborative way of working. Unlike Powell and Pressburger, Lermontov shares credit with no one, and insists on sole creative control. In that sense, the duo's collaboration can be seen as a rejection of the "loner artistic genius" stereotype that Lermontov embodies.

Explain how the narrative structure of The Red Shoes differs from the traditional structure of many films that preceded it.

Unlike many more conventional films, The Red Shoes is not divided into three acts. Instead, the film is bisected by a 15-minute ballet sequence, where the viewer sees the entirety of the ballet The Red Shoes, watching the performance as though they were in attendance. The ballet divides what could roughly be considered two acts. In the first act, everything seems fairly optimistic: Vicky and Julian have exciting new jobs with the Ballet Lermontov, are beginning to develop an affinity for one another, and the full extent of Lermontov's controlling tendencies has yet to be revealed. In the second act, after Lermontov learns of Vicky and Julian's relationship, things begin to sour, and the overall tone takes a turn for the dark. Rather than structuring the film around a "hero's journey" or a protagonist's attempt to reinstate order following a chaotic inciting incident, Powell and Pressburger essentially divide The Red Shoes into two sections separated by their differences in tone, divided by the performance of the ballet, which creates an aside from the overall narrative while simultaneously foreshadowing how it will end.

The central dance sequence in The Red Shoes has often been cited as one of the best in film history. Describe some of the innovations that make the sequence so special, and explain the sequence's significance to the rest of the film.

Several of the film's groundbreaking special effects take place during this dance sequence, lending it a dreamlike quality. When the ballerina, played by Vicky, gets the shoes, they slide onto her feet and lace themselves up without intervention, as if by magic. Later, as she dances in the shoes, her dance partner transforms from a man into a dancing newspaper, and this anthropomorphic newspaper dances with her as though it were sentient. Both of these images strike the viewer due to their impossibility, drawing their attention to the film's innovative use of special effects. The dance sequence is also part of the film's unconventional narrative structure, dividing its two halves. It also foreshadows the broad contours of the film's plot, including Vicky's eventual death. Given that it is innovative in all these ways, it is clear why the sequence—which otherwise has little relation to the narrative's progression—has repeatedly been identified as central.

The Red Shoes departs from traditional melodrama insofar as its characters are not morally polarized: as the film progresses, they are revealed to be multidimensional, never entirely "good" or "bad." This is especially true in the case of Julian and Lermontov. Describe a moment in the film when this nuance comes to light.

Although he may initially come across as a cruel, demanding creative genius, Lermontov is revealed to be sad and vulnerable after Vicky leaves the ballet company. He remains fixated on her, even when Irina, his previous prima ballerina, is back, and his comments throughout the film allude to the fact that his cynicism about romance stems from his own blighted past. These factors may lead the viewer to feel some sympathy towards him as he attempts to persuade Vicky to rejoin the company after she has left to marry Julian; they certainly prove persuasive enough to her, as she agrees to dance for him again. As he begs Vicky to return, his desperation is revealed, making him more multifaceted than his caricature of a controlling artistic prodigy earlier in the film suggests. Likewise, Julian is initially a caricature of a loving, supportive romantic partner, who is purely a source of joy to Vicky. However, after she leaves the company to marry him, it's clear that she becomes somewhat bored, and when she attempts to return, some of Julian's unsavory traits begin to surface. When he appears in Vicky's dressing room before the revival performance of The Red Shoes, Julian is proven to be just as jealous and controlling as Lermontov, demonstrating that he is a nuanced, dynamic character, capable of both good and evil.

Describe the symbolic resonance of the red ballet shoes in the ballet-within-the-film. Given the parallel between the ballet's story and the film's overall plot, where can we locate a parallel to the shoes in Vicky's life?

The red shoes, which force their wearer to dance until she dies of exhaustion, could be read as a metaphor for Lermontov. The girl in the ballet is initially drawn to the glamour that the shoes represent, and is elated when she can finally wear them as she lives her dream of dancing beautifully. Similarly, Vicky is drawn to the Ballet Lermontov for its prestige, as well as its ability to offer her a place where she can focus on dancing. However, the promise of dancing is, in both scenarios, shown to have a dark side: much as the shoes' wearer can't stop dancing, Vicky finds herself torn between her love of dance and her love of Julian, subject to Lermontov's whim. Like the dancer who wears the shoes, she is inextricably under his control: even after she leaves the company to marry Julian, she is eventually coaxed into returning, and dies from jumping off the balcony before she can quit again. This final scene cements the parallel between Lermontov and the shoes: Lermontov is the last person Vicky talks to before her death, and it is unclear whether she jumps off the balcony in a deliberate suicide motivated by Lermontov's gloating or whether the shoes, which she wears for her costume, propel her to do it.