Darren Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN has been described as everything from clichéd melodrama to a work of genius. I'm somewhere in the middle leaning toward the latter, but regardless of how you may feel about Mr. Aronofsky's ballet horror film, you could do worse that to follow it with a viewing of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1948 masterpiece, THE RED SHOES.
While telling a similar story of an artist's single-minded pursuit of perfection, THE RED SHOES (starring an incandescent Moira Shearer in her screen debut) manages to accomplish the same end as Natalie Portman's Nina without the detour into self-destructive madness. Interestingly, despite its prefeminist milieu, it's the heroine of the earlier film who seems to exercise the most control over her own destiny.
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| Moira Shearer, in full Swan Lake getup |
THE RED SHOES is a can't-miss film, filled with indelible characters (played by real dancers!) and shot in stunning, saturated Technicolor -- a perfect chaser after an evening with BLACK SWAN.
Be sure to see Criterion's 2010 restoration on DVD or, preferably, blu-ray. You won't believe that you're watching a movie that's over 65 years old.
Be back soon with Hitchcock One By One: THE LODGER (1927).
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