What is Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’sThe Red Shoes really about? A fairytale within a fairytale, the commitment of artistry, a story about the jealousies and passions that arise when you see a talent like no other… It’s hard to tie down the different threads in the movie, but the central theme from the opening scene to the final curtain is ambition. The ambition to rise to the top, to be a name everyone recognizes, and to receive all of the fame and the success that comes from being the star of a show. It’s no wonder so many filmmakers (Scorsese, Spielberg, Brian DePalma, and Francis Ford Coppola) love this film — it’s made for and about young artists with dreams. And even if you don’t identify as an artist you can’t help but exit a screening of this film craving that same ambition, love, and devotion towards a field or an art form as the characters you saw onscreen. You could say the characters’ desires are infectious; they bleed through the screen, and even though my current rewatching of this was at least my fifth, I feel just as affected as if it were my first. (more…)
