The Line, The Cross and The Curve

 

If Kate Bush fans can sometimes treat her work with reverence, it says something about the artist that she is less precious about such matters herself. She's tinkered with old albums and famously dismissed this 1993 short film as “a load of bollocks” later on but at the time poured considerable effort into directing as well as writing and starring in it. Its thirty years old so in the continued absence of new Kate Bush material (though a new album called Hidden Pearls has been  rumoured for a while) I thought I’d have another look at it.

 

The Red Shoes concept was taken from the famous ballet of the same name, one of those ballets people who never watch ballet have seen. The ballet itself was a take on  Hans Christian Anderson’s tale of a girl whose specially made red shows will not stop dancing and which she cannot remove. It’s a dark, bleak tale wholly unsuitable for anything but a horror movie (look if up if you want the gruesome synopsis which has the most unlikely so called `happy` ending I’ve ever heard of). The 1948 film by Michael Powell and Emerick Pressburger takes the basis of the story only weaving it through a romantic narrative and using the shoes more as a symbol rather than her literally not being able to remove them. The common reading of the ballet is of a struggle between life and art. Whichever version you go for it still ends badly for its protagonist though.

The forty -four minute Kate Bush feature opens with the standard `Rubberband Girl` promo film that was used when it was a single. I’m still a fan of this original arrangement though her reworking of the song on `Director’s Cut` was quite a radical reboot that sounds like a compressed Rolling Stones. After this routine Kate seems frustrated she can’t master some complex dancing even though she’s just executed the whole thing flawlessly to our eyes. When everyone else has gone for a coffee break Kate encounters a character who bursts through her mirror (this is quite well done) and at first seems to be in some trouble, her hands bandaged. This is Miranda Richardson and the character is a strange one indeed.

Kate helps her draw some symbols, not really noticing how weird all this is, and in return for her help accepts her red shoes. As soon as she dons them she begins to dance and a now less amenable Miranda mouths the lyrics of the `Red Shoes` song as the brightly coloured footwear takes control. Her miming is spot on adding a slightly demented touch to an already odd song. The story such as it is takes its cue from the title with Kate having to find her “smile”, “heart” and “path” which those symbols represent. Why or even how is given little explanation but provides a journey for her to take.

 So it is that Kate goes spinning round, trapped by the shoes and performing `Moments of Pleasure` (again this sequence was the promo video for the single) and `Lily` (the latter with the real Lily).  This latter song struggles to fit the overall concept especially as these beings summoned to protect her aren’t seen again so I’m not sure what purpose they serve. After the fruit interlude for `Eat The Music` which is where matters seems to go off a quite a tangent Kate tussles with Miranda, there’s some running down tunnels and finally she is freed.

Kate brought in her old movement mentor Lindsey Kemp and he appears here looking like a monochrome refugee from Metropolis to play a mysterious character who seems partly to revel in her predicament – he mouths “its really happening to you” with glee- but partly to help her. At least this version of the story has a happy ending for its star though there’s still a whiff of the macabre when it comes to Miranda’s character

Viewed thirty years on it has the patina of an even older product utilising the sort of stage effects that an ambitious theatre production of the earlier twentieth century  might employ. Sheets waving, coloured paper being blown upwards, glitter sprinkled in the air and- somewhat bizarrely- fruit being danced upon. I always wonder if its real fruit. One scene where Kate is sitting on the ground with her legs still madly dancing is unintentionally comic, one of those ideas that probably looked great as a sketch. Kate herself is clearly not an actor but doesn’t need to be as her singing does the hard work for her. Her band look even more bemused and somewhat relieved to be shuffled out of the way for much of the action.

Considering that there was presumably no shortage of money or indeed time there’s a lot of evidence really to support Kate’s own harsh summary and yet there is also something effective about parts of it. Her dancing in `Rubberband Girl`is unusual and its odd that the camera is most inventive during this more conventional part of the film. When Kate does huge jumps into the air, our view tilts sideways. A young Miranda Richardson is quite a presence, her character’s demeanour slowly moving from sweet and troubled to scheming, her expression as Kate dons the fateful red shoes is classic. The `Moments of Pleasure` sequence is fabulously rich, filled with colour as Kate spins around while fondly  remembering people from her life and if anything the orchestral sweep of this song is underscored perfectly by the visuals. One of my favourite moments of her entire catalogue is the way the strings swoop around the `looking like Douglas Fairbanks` line. 

The aesthetic of the whole short film is  of  warm colours dominated by rich crimson and red. Its possible that some of the visuals- and probably the costumes - would have been utilised had she toured in 1993 as originally intended. Perhaps one of the reasons why its creator is disparaging about it is that some of this was meant for the stage where it would work better than on film.  `The Red Shoes` was released on video but has not enjoyed a re-release in any subsequent format though can be viewed on You Tube.  Really, its several promotional films put together with an odd story that doesn’t really do the job its supposed to yet there is something interesting about it. If it had been the foundation for a tour that would have been good.