The Red Shoes story
The Red Shoes is a 1948 British drama film written, directed, and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and starring Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, and Marius Goring. It follows a ballerina who joins an established ballet company under an acclaimed director, ultimately testing her dedication to her craft when she must choose between her career and a romance with a composer. It marked the feature film debut of Shearer, an established ballerina, and also features Robert Helpmann, Léonide Massine, and Ludmilla Tchérina, other renowned dancers from the ballet world. The plot is based on the eponymous fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, and features a ballet within it by the same title, also adapted from the Andersen work.
9 total · 3 choice · 5 major · 1 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| love vs. career | choice | Lermontov did not approve of his artists falling in love and considered their careers to be compromised if they did. He force the stark choice between love and dancing upon Vicky. Julian, simultaneously, reneged on his opening night in order to win Vicky back. |
| obsession | choice | Lermontov's obsession with dancing, and with Vicky in particular, lead to her suicide; Vicky's obsession with dancing played a part as well |
| the entertainment industry | choice | The story centered on a renowned ballet company. |
| dancing | major | Vicky was crazy about dancing to the exclusion of all else, until she fell for Julian and gave it all up. |
| husband and wife | major | Vicky and Julian quickly got married |
| music | major | Especially Julian was a passionate composer for the ballet that was central to the story. He wrote the score for the enormously successful "Red Shoes" performance. |
| romantic love | major | Boronskaya fell in love and was sacked for it; Vicky and Julian fell in love and were driven out of the company for it; Lermontov despised people who sacrificed their art for something so base |
| suicide | major | torn between her love of dancing and her lover, Vicky was finally driven to jump in front of a train |
| benefiting from someone else's work | minor | Professor Palmer had stolen Julian's work, and Julian discussed this with Lermontov who concluded that Palmer was the more pitiable |