The Red Shoes Literary Elements

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook

Austin Trevor, Ludmilla Tcherina, Irene Brown

Drama, Musical

English

Won Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

1948

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Behind the scenes of a professional ballet company, and occasionally onstage for the company's performances.

The film is shot from an omniscient point of view, as indicated by its non-subjective camerawork, however, in certain moments, the perspective seems most aligned with the protagonist, Vicky Page. Occasionally, in moments where Vicky is not onscreen, the point of view is subtly aligned with Julian or Lermontov.

Serious, Dramatic, and Tragic

Protagonist: Vicky Page; Antagonist: Boris Lermontov

Vicky is torn between the demands of two controlling men who represent her two true loves: Boris Lermontov, the impresario of the ballet company where she works, wants total control over her life in the name of art; Julian, the ballet company's composer, is her love interest who wants to continue being involved with her despite Lermontov's objections. She is unable to choose between her love for ballet and for Julian, leading to an eventual break that is equal parts psychological and precipitated by external forces.

After a final show-down between Julian and Lermontov, Vicky jumps off a balcony wearing her ballet costume, including the titular red shoes.

Vicky and Julian's simultaneous arrival at the Ballet Lermontov, along with their parallel passions for the complementary arts of dance and music composition, foreshadows the eventual relationship that evolves between them.

Lermontov's anger at Irina's engagement and his violent outburst demanding her departure establishes his intense need for creative control, foreshadowing his anger at Vicky and Julian's romantic involvement.

The demise of the unnamed protagonist of the ballet The Red Shoes, along with the fact that the ballet shares the film's name, foreshadows Vicky's death.

The inclusion of a 15-minute long ballet in the middle of the film departs from conventional narrative structure, bisecting the film rather than breaking it into the traditional three acts. This unconventional structure represents a crucial innovation from the more formulaic films of the Hollywood studio system, which typically adhere to the three-act structure.

Several innovative special effects also occur during the ballet sequence. The red shoes magically lace up onto Vicky's feet as she steps into them, levitating as if propelled by an unseen force. As she dances, her male dance partner transforms into a newspaper. Both of these moments are stunning for their innovative use of special effects, which had not been seen like this in widespread use before.

The title alludes to Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale "The Red Shoes," which follows roughly the same story arc as the ballet.

When Vicky first arrives at the Ballet Lermontov, she performs a section from Tchaikovsky's famous ballet Swan Lake.

Vicky's predicament is essentially paradoxical: although she is forcibly torn between her love of dancing and her love of Julian, whenever she attempts to choose and stick with one, her ability to do so is foreclosed by the other. When she finally appears to settle down with Julian, Lermontov convinces her to come back to the ballet, capitalizing on her sadness about missing the company; when she vacillates towards choosing the ballet and Lermontov, Julian angrily intervenes. The constant back-and-forth of this tension drives Vicky's eventual downfall, which proves the only way for her to break this paradox.

A parallel is implied between Lermotov and the shoemaker in the ballet version of The Red Shoes: both cause a young ballerina's demise by demanding too much of her, forcing her into an unwavering commitment to dance that she can inevitably never fulfill. Just as the shoemaker creates a pair of magic pointe shoes that cause their wearer to never stop dancing, Lermontov places Vicky under intense pressure by demanding that she prioritize dance over every other aspect of her life.

The plot of the ballet version of The Red Shoes is mirrored by the film at large, although the full film allows more room for character nuance and narrative diversions.