SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET
Director: Tim Burton Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
A most impressive film in all departments but one that is definitely not for the faint-hearted nor for those who feel squeamish at the sight of blood.
The story of Benjamin Barker who was transported unjustly from 19th century London because a corrupt judge lusted after his wife and took his daughter as his ward. Barker then escaped from Australia and returned to London for vengeance as Sweeney Todd, aided by Mrs Lovett above whose pie shop he set up his murderous barber’s shop. This tale may have been based on fact or may be fiction or London legend. However, after a play in the 1970s by Christopher Bond which was used by Hugh Wheeler in his 1979 collaboration with the celebrated Stephen Sondheim, Sweeny Todd became very well-known in theatrical circles and the world of music theatre. Sondheim’s musical won eight Tonys and was filmed for television with the original leads, Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury.
Now it is has come to the cinema screen, pared down from three hours to two to accommodate it to audience response to screen as different from response to stage – and with Sondheim’s approval.
Since the director is Tim Burton, his fans know that this will be Gothic horror, musical Grand Guignol. The Oscar-nominated sets and costumes create an eerie London, a squalid East End and Fleet Street with its grimy houses, dirty shops, its markets and sewers. There is a little contrast with the wealth of Judge Turpin’s house but there is some welcome relief in some light-filled and pretty flashbacks to Todd’s married life and the betrayal by Judge Turpin. Later in the film, there is an imagined sequence as Mrs Lovett imagines what life might have been like with Todd by the sea and in a green grass landscape. But, for most of the film, the atmosphere is grim.
Since this is a musical, we do not expect realism. Rather, the heightened stylisation of sets, costumes, characters and their behaviour have the disconcerting effect on the audience that makes it seem not entirely unreal. Most of the dialogue is in song, with Sondheim’s melodious (but not necessarily hummable) songs and his witty wordplay lyrics that also demand a different kind of attention.
The performances are admirable. Johnny Depp continues to display his surprising versatility, an obsessed, morbid Todd whose bitterness leads to physical tragedy and moral mayhem. Depp’s collaborations with director Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charley And The Chocolate Factory, The Corpse Bride) have produced a gallery of sometimes sinister, sometimes endearing eccentrics. His melancholy as Todd is palpable, leading to some kind of sympathy for him which he forfeits as the killings begin. Helena Bonham Carter, also doing her own singing, has also appeared in many Burton films. She is credible as the widow who leads a slatternly life but is infatuated with Todd but who also craves her own family. She finally faces her moral dilemma, an option for Todd or for the orphan, Toby, she has taken in to help with her prospering shop once her pies (filled with Todd’s victims) become famous.
Alan Rickman is well suited to the role of the Judge, Timothy Spall his callous and fawning Beadle and Sacha Baron Cohen creates a different comic character as the charlatan Pirelli.
Sweeney Todd holds a unique position in theatre, a macabre classic musical. Burton, Depp, Bonham Carter and the cast and technical crew have made it a unique piece of cinema.
Reviewed by MARCUS SINCLAIR
In many ways Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street is quite a remarkable film. It's a skillful adaptation of the now famous Stephen Sondheim musical. Various numbers have been left out; others have been shortened; and even though it has been opened up for the cinema from its original stage presentation it still has a staginess about it that suits it admirably. It reeks of atmosphere (Nineteenth century London with its teeming masses and squalor, with occasional hints of luxury) due to the stylised set designs of Dante Ferretti and the washed out monochromatic colour of its cinematographer Dariusz Wolski. This is used to great effect for frequently there appears, in startling contrast, splashes of colour (notably red).
Also, there is the wonderful "dream" sequence, presented in bright colour and with a light humorous touch, that sparkles amid the doom and gloom. Here Mrs Lovett imagines what respectable life would be like being married to Sweeney – with picnics and visits to the beach. She's thriving on it; he loathes every moment of it.
Sweeney Todd, like Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, is a tale of revenge that hinges on the fact that the protagonist has been cheated. The woman with whom he is in love is wanted and taken by another. Thus to satisfy his vanity, his sense of justice, his well being, he embarks on a program of obtaining satisfaction. Unlike Monte Cristo who gradually works his hate through his system and eventually settles down to a life that is reasonably normal under the circumstances, Sweeney becomes obsessed with killing and cannot stop. Hate has filled his soul - not only for those who caused his suffering, but also for humankind in general.
The leads Johnny Depp (Sweeney) and Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs Lovett) give credibility to characters who are over-the-top personifications of evil and madness, as do Alan Rickman and Timpthy Spall in their minor roles as Judge and his off-sider, the Beadle.
As a director Burton is on top of his medium. Camera angles and movements, together with the editing, are perfect and he makes great use of the close-up and the medium long shot to emphasize depravity. Perhaps the singing is not on a par with the overall production (?), but it is more than adequate, and Sondheim's music is far superior to that offered in most other "popular" musicals. It may not suit the general taste, and the violence depicted throughout, together with Mrs Lovett's produce, could be off-putting, but, all things considered, Sweeney Todd must be considered as a contender for one of the best films of the year.