I apologize for being a day late on this one. Let's just say I was saving it for Halloween...
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was released on December 21st, 2007. Based on the Stephen Sondheim stage musical of the same name, it is directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. In it Benjamin Barker (Depp), a former barber, arrives in London after a fifteen year absence having been exiled for a crime he didn't commit by one Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). Learning that his wife committed suicide and that his daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisner) has become Turpin's ward, Barker changes his name to Sweeney Todd, vowing to exact vengeance on the man who destroyed his family. He reopens his barbershop atop the pie shop of Mrs. Lovett (Carter), biding his time until the opportunity for revenge presents itself.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is considered by many to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time. It successfully blends horror with subversive, black comedy and tells a story about revenge and how it can consume and destroys a person. It's also filled with commentary on industrial capitalism and its dehumanizing effects on people. Benjamin Barker is a monster who is destroyed by his own hate and desire for vengeance but he is also an innocent man caught up in the "great black pit" that is London in the early industrial revolution. Sondheim's lyrics really bring out the subversive qualities of the story, "For what's the sound of the world out there?" "Those crunching noises pervading the air" "It's man devouring man, my dear. And then who are we to deny it in here?" This is one of the Sondheim's most accomplished works with his use of overlapping, conversational lyrics reaching new heights. His score, reminiscent of works by Bernard Herrmann, is wonderfully frenetic and dissonant complementing the dark twisted nature of the story.
Everything I said about the stage musical can be said for this film. It preserves Sondheim's book, more-or-less, completely intact. So how well executed is it? How does Jonathan Tunick, the original play's orchestrator, re-purpose the score for the film, how well do the cast perform the material, how does Burton stage the musical numbers and what does he do to make the play "cinematic"?
Tunick expanded the size of the orchestra for his re-orchestration of the score in order to make it more cinematic and it works well, adding a certain heft to the score that was missing in the stage version. On the other hand, Burton's decision to remove the chorus line in many of the songs deprives them of their lyrical richness and leaves them feeling thin and empty. "God, That's Good" in particular is robbed of its sense of societal madness. In addition to this neither Johnny Depp nor Helena Bonham Carter can sing very well. Many critics defended Burton's decision to cast actor's that were not professional singers, arguing that the material was never really well suited to Broadway singers anyway, but I don't buy it. The musical complexity of Sondheim's songs requires a performer who can act
and sing and therefore act with their voice. Depp and Carter just don't cut it for me.
As far as their performances go, Depp is fine, bringing the right mix of detachment and demented fury to the lead role. Helena Bonham Carter is a little more problematic. As portrayed by Angela Lansbury, Mrs. Lovett is a seemingly absentminded, flustered old lady who hides a real shrewdness and manipulative cunning underneath. She brought a real sense of humor and energy to the role. Carter on the other hand just feels limp in comparison. Her Mrs. Lovett feels more indolent than anything. It's only in a few scenes ("By the Sea" in particular) that she really comes to life. The supporting cast, by contrast, are uniformly great. Alan Rickman is perfectly cast as the despicable Judge Turpin. He's positively dripping with lechery and self-righteous hypocrisy. He can't sing any better then Depp and Carter but then he doesn't have to carry any of the numbers on his own. Timothy Spall as Beadle is a no-brainer. The man has made a career out of playing slimy sycophants. Sacha Baron Cohen is also great as the pompous, scheming Pirelli as is Ed Sanders as the young, innocent and loyal Toby, a refreshing change from the man-child of the original play. Finally, Jamie Bower and Jayne Wisner as the seemingly doomed lovers Anthony and Johanna respectively are more sympathetic than in the play, where their subplot was played mostly for laughs. I think this helps to ground the film to some extant as they're the only really sympathetic characters in the story. Comparing Wisner's restrained rendition of "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" to Sarah Rice's over-the-top version in the original Broadway cast recording illustrates the difference nicely. This is one change from the original that I kind of like.
As indicated by his decision cut many of the choruses, Tim Burton doesn't display a great understanding of the art of the musical here and his staging of the musical numbers often lacks the manic energy they demand. "A Little Priest" suffers the most. It's just far too slow and plodding, robbing the scene of its black comedic tone. In general the film feels dour and humorless, unlike the play which was, quite often, a riot. The only exception is "By the Sea" Mrs. Lovett's whimsical detour where she imagines what a married life with Mr. Todd might look like. Burton's deadpan sense of humor, which both Depp and Carter are quite adept at by now, serves this number really well as does his trademark visual flare. His art direction is consistently great. A dense labyrinth of dirty factories and creepy alleyways, London, in this movie, really looks like the forsaken hell-hole that the lyrics paint it as.
Sweeney Todd is not a bad adaptation. The supporting cast is quite good and Burton's unique visual style captures the original works sense of tragedy and pathos. The musical numbers have been truncated but Sondheim is good enough a writer for his work to withstand at least
some tampering. Ultimately it's a good musical that could have, and probably should have, been great.
Score: 8/10
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