A magnificent restored version

Posted on october 16, 2018

Presenting this classic-of-classics to the public of the Lumière festival, restored thanks to the remarkable work of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, French director Robin Campillo exclaimed, "If ever there was a film which deserved to be restored, it is definitely ‘The Red Shoes!’"

Presenting this classic-of-classics to the public of the Lumière festival, restored thanks to the remarkable work of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, French director Robin Campillo exclaimed, "If ever there was a film which deserved to be restored, it is deCampillo’s words prove exact for the gorgeous restoration - an intense cinematic experience that leaves the viewer speechless, an explosion of colors and movement, from which radiates intense energy, mixing innocence and eroticism, in the image of the star dancer with the fiery hair and the famous red slippers.initely ‘The Red Shoes!’"

Fillm Les Chaussons Rouges

A fascinating parable of the destructive demands imposed on an artist in the name of art, the film transports the viewer to the heart of England in the 1940s, then to the French Riviera, where a prestigious dance troupe, run by director Boris Lermontov, is all the rage with its latest production, "The Red Shoes.” In the role of the formidable Lermontov, Anton Walbrook is superb, his elegant and expressive face reflecting his devouring passion for dance and his contempt for anything second-rate.

Moira Shearer is an extraordinary Victoria Page as the prodigious ingénue, suddenly catapulted to center stage after the premature departure of the troupe’s star dancer following the latter’s marriage; the film is also, incidentally, the portrait of a time when marriage instantly nullified any professional ambition for women. The inevitable happens and Vicky falls in love with the young and ambitious composer and conductor of the troupe, played by Marius Goring, to the chagrin of Lermontov, for whom love and excellence are incompatible.

The ballet scene, with extravagant sets and costumes, beginning as a dream and turning into a surrealist nightmare (a reflection of Vicky's desires and fears), is a masterpiece of classic cinema. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have created an essential work, which remains modern 70 years later, to be fully savored.

 Lise Pedersen