Lermontov's Party Faux-Pas (Dramatic Irony)
At the beginning of the film, after the performance of Heart of Fire, Lermontov is the guest of honor at an after-party for his company and various socialites celebrating the ballet's successful run. At the party, an aristocratic woman approaches Lermontov, insisting that he must meet her niece, who she claims is a terrific dancer. Lermontov declines somewhat rudely, claiming that the context is inappropriate. Later at the party, he meets a girl at the buffet, and complains to her about the aristocratic woman and her silly demands. Although it hasn't yet been explicitly indicated that this woman—Vicky—is the aristocrat's niece, a combination of factors in this moment including her facial expression and Lermontov's blatant indiscretion suggest to the viewer that the woman is indeed the niece that the aristocrat was talking about. Here, we get a more comedic moment of dramatic irony, wherein the audience is made to realize that Lermontov has complained about Vicky to her face before he himself realizes this.
Julian's Misunderstanding (Dramatic Irony)
When Julian learns that Vicky has returned to the Ballet Lermontov to dance in a revival of the ballet The Red Shoes, he misunderstands the situation, assuming that Vicky's return to the company signals her intention to leave their marriage, indicating that she has chosen Lermontov over him. This is a tragic instance of dramatic irony: the viewer understands that Vicky does not mean to leave Julian, and in fact accepted her reinstatement to the Ballet Lermontov only reluctantly, repeatedly noting her dedication to Julian and their marriage. Unfortunately, the scenes that give the audience this context transpire while Vicky and Julian are apart, meaning that, while we see her negotiation with Lermontov and her devotion to Julian, he never does. Because the viewer is present in a moment where Julian is not, our knowledge transcends that of the characters, creating a textbook example of dramatic irony.
Julian Gets "Sick" (Situational Irony)
Perhaps the most striking instance of situational irony in the film occurs as Vicky sits in her dressing room, preparing for the revival run of The Red Shoes. The radio plays in the background, about to broadcast Julian's new opera, when an announcer interjects that the performance will not take place because the composer—Julian—has fallen ill. At this point, both Vicky and the audience expect something terrible to have befallen Julian, as we are made to expect that he must be extremely sick. However, these expectations are quickly subverted in a massive plot twist: Julian appears, as if out of thin air, in Vicky's dressing room, his physical health perfectly intact. It turns out that he left the performance because he was angry to have learned about Vicky's reconciliation with Lermontov, creating a situation in which the opposite of what we expect to happen actually takes place. This is made even more ironic when Vicky, not Julian, dies soon thereafter: while the circumstances set up in this scene lead us to believe Julian is in jeopardy, it is actually Vicky whose life turns out to be at stake.
