Musical Mondays: The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

     Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is, perhaps, the most successful theater musical of all time. It's been on Broadway since 1988 and the West End since 1986 and has grossed over $5.6 billion. Despite this, critics have often dismissed it as empty bombast. I'd liked to think there's more to it then that. While it's true that this story doesn't really have a lot of depth on paper it does work on a raw emotional level and, if properly cast, the performances can add depth to otherwise thinly drawn characters. In other words, The Phantom of the Opera succeeds or fails mainly because of the quality of its production, or lack thereof.

     This brings us to the 2004 film adaptation of the play. Directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself, this film casts Gerard Butler as the mysterious Phantom of the Paris Opéra House who develops a dangerous obsession towards young soprano Christine Daaé (Emmy Rossum). It follows the plot of the play pretty much scene for scene.

     The Phantom blackmails the owners of the opera house (played by Simon Callow and Ciarán Hinds) into giving Christine the lead role in their production of Hannibal. He believes that no one can ever truly love him because of his scarred appearance. Because of this, he tries to coerce her into a relationship by exploiting her love for her long dead father. Christine at first believes that the Phantom is the spirit of her father while Raoul (Patrick Wilson), the opera's patron and Christine's childhood sweetheart, does not believe that he exists at all.

     When the Phantom kidnaps Christine in the films climax, she rejects him not because of his scarred appearance but because of the terrible acts he has committed. When he threatens to kill Raoul, who has been captured by the Phantom in his attempt to rescue her, Christine finally relents. She shows him real love and compassion and decides to stay, not just to save Raoul but in hopes that she can save the Phantom's humanity as well. This awakens the man inside the monster and he decides to let her go.

     It seems like certain decisions were made to improve on the play, or perhaps to make it more cinematic, but very little thought was put into these changes and they end up making matters worse. A good example of this occurs in the scene where Christine is wandering through the grave yard and encounters the Phantom, who she still thinks may be the spirit of her dead father. Raoul shows up and shakes her out of her reverie. In the play he is taunted by the Phantom until Christine persuades him to leave with her but in the movie the two men have a sword fight and Raoul defeats the Phantom. This seems like it could be a good idea at first. It makes Raoul stronger, more assertive character.  But then Christine pleads with Raoul to spare the Phantom, who he has at his mercy, so he just leaves. Wouldn't make more sense to turn him in to the authorities?

The film version of "Masquerade" on the left and the play on the right

     In addition to this, Joel Shumacher direction robs the musical of much of its more hypnotic and eerie qualities. In the play, there's a certain shallow, garish sensuousness to the polite society that the Phantom is hiding from and a hypnotic and seductive quality to his underground lair. Christine's seemingly mad belief that the Phantom is her father makes more sense in this atmosphere. While the film does a decent enough job with the Phantom and his world, the set and costume design in the opera house and, later, the ballroom is rather dull and uninspired. As a result, the film completely lacks the unsettling quality that made the play work and fails to draw you in in the same way.

     The biggest problem this movie has, however, is the music itself. Gerard Butler, simply put, can't sing. He's rather tone deaf and struggles to even enunciate correctly half the time. Since he is featured in most of the major musical numbers, this is a huge problem. Emmy Rossum, though not a bad singer, is really not up to the task of playing a character who's supposed to have an amazing, angelic voice. Patrick Wilson has the best voice of the three but is wasted in a role that was underwritten in the first place and is even less likable in this film's script. The musical numbers are also staged lazily and Schumacher has the actor's awkwardly speak the lyrics instead of singing them in certain scenes.

     This movie does feature some cool sets and Webber's music is great when it's not being ruined by terrible singing but, in the end, this film version of The Phantom of the Opera is the shallow spectacle critics always accused the play of being.

Score: 5/10