The Red Shoes

A great, international triumph for The Archers and recipient of two Academy Awards. The Red Shoes is a mind-blowing story about the power of art, but also about the fact that the desire for perfection comes at a high price. The film, which is at the same time pulsating with colour and a dark energy, was the crowning achievement after the series of masterpieces made by Powell & Pressburger in the 1940s. It’s also the purest essence of their style and the realization of their idea of merging the arts. The main protagonist is a young dancer Vicky (an unforgettable Moira Shearer), who has the opportunity to join a world-renown ballet group led by the charismatic Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). The heart of the movie is a long sequence of ballet by the same title, which was an inspiration for American musicals of the 1950s, such as An American in Paris. Yet nobody could match the grandeur of The Red Shoes. Who could rival the determination that Vicky shows when, asked by Lermontov why she wants to dance, she answers: ‘Why do you want to live?’.

Sebastian Smoliński

Restored in 4K in 2009 by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in association with the BFI, The Film Foundation, ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., and Janus Films. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The Film Foundation, and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.