Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Director Tim Burton has made an impressively gothic and dark version of the Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler musical from 1979 about Sweeny Todd (2007). The Demon Barber of Fleet Street stars Johnny Depp as the barber himself, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett and Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin.

Visually Burton is up to all his old tricks, creating a feeling of the surreal. Not that musicals don’t have that as a built-in quality already. Just as you would expect Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter have worked with vocal coaches and that is probably a good idea since they come under heavy scrutiny right from the get go.

The look and feel of the movie is dark and beautiful, the main characters are all as pale as china dolls and dressed in a monochrome. Burton manages to create a look close to black and white, but much richer. The blood, and there is quite a lot of it, is ridiculously red and cartoony which works surprisingly well.

I am not particularily comfortable with musicals. Even when I like the visuals and the theme and the look and feel, like I do here, I still find I cringe at the idea. This is a penny dreadful come to life in all the right ways, but there is still a music hall sentimentality which makes me uneasy. Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin is an excellent villain – and he is not twiddling an imaginary mustasche or anything – but all of a sudden he bursts into song. And I am sorry, that just feels wrong. The scene where Turpin sits sprawled in Todd’s barber chair letting himself be shaved whilst singing about pretty women should have had more of an impact because of his very helplessness and the intimacy of the setting. The song is one of those romantic, sweet and flighty musical numbers that are supposed to enhance and lift the action, but I can’t get past the artificial nature of the beast.

One of the few musicals I have seen and thouroughly enjoyed was The Black Rider where the music was written by Tom Waits and the words by William S. Burroughs. It has the same gothic underpinning – it’s basically a postmodern day mephistopheles – but it manages to keep its menace even in the sweeter passages. And frankly I think that’s what I am missing here. The look of the movie is just right, but the music… They could have done more. The score feels outmoded and overly traditional to my mind. It glimmers and shines on a few occasions, but mostly it feels too close to the singing Von Trapp family for my taste.

Buckets of blood. That’s what you get. The revenge tale gives motive to Todd’s madness, but the action seems foucused a little to the left of where it could have been. The love story between Todd’s estranged daugther Joanna (Jayne Wisener) and the sailor Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower) is one of those subplots that seems to have been kept in mainly to justify the sickly sweet songs between the two youngsters. Not much is made of the actual pie shop where Todd and Mrs Lovett serve their customers to their customers… Which is too bad because I would have loved to see what wicked dark humor could have been drawn out of that. If the song “A Little Priest” gives any indication that could have been fun.

Visually I want for nothing. This really is lush and cool and dark and detailed. The cast do an excellent job of bringing this to life and Depps scowl is everything it should be just like Bonham Carters whimsy. You can tell they worked hard at making this work. Actual actors who can act is better than pretty singers who can’t act their way out of a paper bag. On rare occasions you can get both, but it is not common.

I enjoyed the movie, but I willingly confess that the musical in general is not my first choice. Had it not been for the unlikely combination of cast, director and theme I would not have chosen this one.

Mule

The Wings of the Dove

The Wings of the Dove (1997) directed by Iian Softley stars Helena Bonham Carter as Kate Croy, Linus Roache as Merton Densher and Alison Elliott as Millie Theale. These are the three central characters around which the story spins. In the supporting cast you will find Michael Gambon as Lionel Croy, Kate’s father, and Charlotte Rampling as Kate’s Aunt Maude.

Set in the early 1900th century, the story takes us from London, to the English country side to a ridiculously pretty Venice, complete with gondolas and rainy piazzas. Kate is trapped in an impossible situation, peniless and subject to the questionable mercy of her wealthy relatives she has to basically pimp herself out to any weathly aunt who can help support her. It was not uncommon for unwed poorer relatives to attach themselves to the household of some aunt or other who was willing to take them on, usually in some token situation as companion or governess. Or, perhaps hoping to be married off to some rich friend of the family.

Kate is in love with the working class journalist Merton who does not seem to understand why this lack of money should weigh so heavily on Kate’s mind. At one point in the story we are introduced to Kate’s opium smoking father (played by Gambon) who expostulated on why his own marriage failed – blaming it on the lack of money, rather than his habit.

Into this mix of interpersonal politics and money comes the young, wealthy and very pretty American girl Millie. She has money. Lots of money. And a short life expectency. Kate quickly befriends the girl, and on learning that Millie has a crush on Merton tries to arrange matters so that Merton and Millie to start a relationship, fully expecting Millie to die and leave all her money to Merton.

It’s your basic femme fatale menage a trois. The story based on the novel by the same name by Henry James. Because of the skill and passion with which the actors take on their characters this is one of those movies that deliver what so many costume pieces only promise. Beautiful sets, costume and attention to detail cannot help a movie tha merely goes through the motions losing its main purpose, which has to be to devliver a story. Helena Bonham Carter is briliant as the young lady in desperate straights, walled in on all sides by her family’s history and her own fears. Even if her motives can be said to be driven by love, if you are feeling charitable, her actions are all unbelievably cynical. She is a gold digger and a social parasite, but she walks a razor’s edge in gaining the viewer’s sympathy. Linus Roache, in the role of Merton Dencher, is so obviously under Kate’s spell that he is wiling to go along with her plan to some extent.

The beauty of this particular film is that nothing is simple. There are no good guys or bad guys in the usual sense, everyone’s motives are explored and shown to have more than one point of origin. It makes it all the more heartbreaking that Kate realises her biggest worry is that Merton will fall in love in earnest and then watch him do just that. Kate overplays her hand, but the punishment is blatantly obvious, even to herself. She sets her plan in motion knowing what she has to risk and still thinking it has to be worth it. Merton lets himself be persuaded, using a little emotional blackmail along the way. Subtly played and well thought out this story is both beautiful and sad and it manages to take it all the way without resorting to simple clichées. The inevitability of fate, and the consequences of your actions – that is what we are left with at the end of the movie. No easy answers are given.

And on top of that it is absolutely gorgeous.

MULE