Get Your Reps In: “The Red Shoes” Reminds Us of the Real Price of Art

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

The Red Shoes 1948 Scottish ballerina Moira Shearer stars in the classic dance film 'The Red Shoes', directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. (Photo by Baron/Getty Images) (IMDB)
By Chance Solem-Pfeifer

The Red Shoes (1948)

Ask Martin Scorsese about the weather or his coffee order, and it’ll be five minutes before he somehow works The Red Shoes into the conversation. The reasons why stretch beyond the director’s encyclopedic film knowledge.

The Red Shoes—the most celebrated feature from the English filmmaking duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger—remains a beguiling love story, a world-class use of color-as-storytelling and a touchstone film for any artist torn up inside about the enriching power of their art versus the destructive forces of perfectionism.

The Red Shoes screens May 25 at Cinema 21 as the capper on a three-week Powell and Pressburger series, programmed by Elliot Lavine.

“A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer,” chides renowned ballet producer Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), essentially drawing the film’s battle lines between relationships and artistic obsession. It’s a warning to ballerina Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), who’s about to become a star in the production’s titular pair of red ballet shoes cursed to continue dancing long after their wearer has tired.

The resonances of that cautionary fairy tale on the film’s characters becomes one of The Red Shoes’ central mysteries and attractions. Shearer executes hundreds of perfect pirouettes in the film, but you can’t take your eyes off her shoes, wondering what they may do next.

ALSO PLAYING:

5th Avenue: Love Letter (1953), May 24-26. Academy: Twister (1996), May 23. Eyes of Fire (1983), May 23. Ghost in the Shell (1995), May 23. Clinton: The Blair Witch Project (1999), May 23. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), May 25. Petey Wheatstraw (1977), May 28. Hollywood: Blue Velvet (1986) with preshow drag cabaret, May 23. Duel (1971), May 24 and 25. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), May 25 and 26. Stop Making Sense (1984), May 25. Tomorrow: Josie and the Pussycats (2001), May 23. Party Girl (1995) with bingo hosted by Violet Hex, May 24.

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