023 - The Red Shoes, 1948, United Kingdom; Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger.

Monday, January 23, 2017

023 - The Red Shoes, 1948, United Kingdom. Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger.

The ballet is about to begin.

A restless throng pounds on the balcony door.

"They're going mad, Sir.  It's the students."

Someone behind the door shouts, "Down with tyrants!"  The doorkeeper says to let them in.  They rush up the stairs and out on to the balcony.  They look like they are in their 40s, as college students back then did.  They are well-dressed for the evening, and they are feisty.

One group has come to see the ballet.  Another has come to hear the orchestra.  They argue.

The first group shows snobbish favoritism for the lead dancer, Irina Boronskaja.  They are incredulous that anyone would come to the ballet without coming specifically for her.

The second group shows patriotic enthusiasm for the composer, Prof. Palmer.  He has written the music, Heart of Fire, for tonight's  ballet.  He is their professor, and they cheer for him.

As the orchestra begins one of the students, Julian Craster, recognizes the music.  So do his friends, Ike and Terry, sitting on either side of him.  It is his own composition!  At first he gives him the benefit of the doubt, but as it continues he realizes that his own professor has stolen and published his work.  He gets up and leaves.  Terry follows.  So does Ike.

This happens.

Lady Neston sits in a theatre box with her niece Victoria Page.  She sends a card to Lermontov, in his box, inviting him to an after party.  He does not wish to go but is persuaded by Professor Palmer, in the box with him, to attend, as she is a patron of the arts.

After the ballet, Palmer and Lermontov arrive at the party.  Lady Neston welcomes them, congratulating Palmer for his composition and showing enthusiasm for Lermontov for his having come.  Some men wheel in a piano.  Lermontov is bothered.  This is a set-up.

Sure enough, Lady Neston explains to him that her niece Vicky will be dancing.  He calls it a shock.  He asks her, "How would you define ballet?"  She begins to answer, "One might call it the poetry of motion. . . . "  He interrupts, "One might, but for me it is a great deal more.  For me it is a religion.  One does not care to see one's religion practiced in an atmosphere like this."  He leaves the room.

As the pianist begins playing, Vicky passes through to the other room and approaches the bar, where Lermontov is now ordering a champagne cocktail.  She affects an attitude of disdain and also orders a champagne cocktail.  He notices her and speaks to her, thinking they will share in their disdain for the party.  She has baited him.  He tells her that it very nearly was a great deal worse.  They were about to witness a horror.

She reveals, "I was that horror."

He is caught.  It is too late to apologize but he does anyway.  She confronts him and asks why he is not sorry she did not dance.  He explains.

"If I accept an invitation to a party, I do not expect to find myself at an audition."

Touché.

But then he asks, "Why do you want to dance?"
She responds, "Why do you want to breathe?"

And with that, she now has his attention.

He says, "Come with me."

Meanwhile, Julian Craster has written a letter to Lermontov introducing himself, explaining that the music of Heart of Fire was his composition.  He arrives the next morning at Lermontov's asking for it back.  He is embarrassed and does not want Lermontov to read it.  Too late.  Lermontov has already read it.

Lermontov has him sit at the piano and play.  The actor, Julian Goring, is really playing.

Lermontov hires him on the spot to be the new coach for the orchestra.  He tells him to destroy the letter and forget about it, stating that "These things mostly happen unintentionally."

Then he observes--

"It is much more disheartening to have to steal than to be stolen from."

That is quite an observation.  Read it again.  What does it say about talent?

And with that we have set up the film.  In the first twenty minutes of a two-and-a-quarter hour story, we have the young dancer and the young composer having met the great impresario and been invited to the next rehearsal.

What we are about to see is a meditation on the price of art.

Martin Scorsese has championed The Red Shoes as one of the great films in cinema history and one of the greatest color films ever made.

Gene Kelly used it to bring ballet into An American in Paris.

It has gone on to influence many artists and filmmakers.

Are you an artist?

Do you want to be one of the great ones?

How badly to you want it?

What price are you willing to pay?

Are there limits?

Are some prices too high?