Lermontov comes out from the center of the curtains and announces with incredible angst that Vicky Page will not perform but would have liked the ballet to go on and the ballet begins without her. A spotlight substitutes for her and the film ends with the shoemaker who originally sells her the shoes replacing them in the store window. Walbrook's curtain scene is unforgettable. He was in love with Vicky and together they had created a masterpiece that would now be forever retired, lost. He is totally crushed, but too ingrained a gentleman not to persevere for the final performance.
Life goes on, though different.
Vicky and Craster are redeemed through their love and their sacrificing their art for that love. The reason the movie is so effective is that the ballet and the acting are sensational. The ballet, which was choreographed by Robert Helpmann, the leading male ballet dancer of his era, and which also stars him and Massine, who is fantastic as the shoemaker, is a breathtaking, 17-minute sequence that has huge and impressive sets and many surreal effects. The music is very beautiful and haunting and the sequence is one of the most magical in the history of film. Walbrook is wonderfully imperious and aristocratic.