FILM / Director's Cut

MARTIN SCORSESE IN PRAISE OF 'THE RED SHOES'

'There are few great dance films. There are some great dancers in films, like Fred Astaire, whose contract said they had to show him from head to toe, all the time, so that you could see his moves. In Michael Powell's The Red Shoes you don't see the full form of the dancer, but it doesn't matter because ultimately, between the camera movement, the speeding up and slowing down of the shooting, the colour and the editing, you get the spirit, the heart of the dance. I guess it's like seeing the dance from inside your head while you're dancing. That, for me, is very close to pure cinema. It always amazes me - I screened it again a few months ago, just for that sequence. It mesmerises me, it's new and fresh every time. Maybe some chances it takes don't come off, but that's OK. It's quite something.'

Martin Scorsese's 'The Age of Innocence' opens today across the country.