Okay, so starting a review with a joke might not be the best idea. But never the less, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is considered the first “Musical thriller.” It is one of composer Stephen Sondheim’s most well-known pieces of music and has won a ton of awards and there are productions and tours everywhere…you get the drill. It is personally one of my favorite musicals (in the top ten) and like Phantom I was hesitant to review this film, but gathered my courage and went ahead. The film is actually the only film adaptation of one of Sondheim’s works that Sondheim himself approves of…so far.
(Don't you dare disappoint me!!)
The exact story centers on (as told in the film by flashbacks) a barber named Benjamin Barker, who lives with his beloved wife Lucy and their infant daughter, Joanna in London in Victorian-era Burton World London. But when the hypocritical Judge Turpin starts lusting after Lucy, he blames Barker for no crime whatsoever and sends him to prison, then rapes Lucy, causing her to kill herself and adopts Joanna. Fifteen years later, Barker changes his name to Sweeney Todd, breaks out of prison and returns back to London. His neighbor, the owner of an unsuccessful pie shop, Mrs. Lovett (who is secretly in love with Todd) explains to him what happened. Todd swears revenge on the judge and vows to kill him by slitting his throat with one of his barber razors. But eventually, Todd comes to the conclusion that everyone deserves to die and decides to kill anyone who walks in for a shave. Mrs. Lovett plans to help him get rid of the bodies by baking them into pies for her unsuccessful shop.
If you haven’t squirmed by now, you are fascinated.
This is half of the glue that holds the film together. Sweeney Todd is a melodrama, but a tragic, dark, exciting, and overall bloody good melodrama (pun intended). It does not throw dark things in to get the audience hooked like Lifetime movies do, but holds the interest of all audience members and grows in a place where the darkness feels more organic. Also, unlike most Melodramas, it actually thinks about and explores its own subject material on a deeper level. How far are we willing to go for revenge? How much can loss push a person to the brink of corruption? Should a traumatic past affect us at all? It also has elements of tragedy borrowed from Shakespeare. You have characters that misunderstand something or run into the wrong place at the wrong time, and the classic tragic hero (Sweeney) who has a tragic flaw (obsession) which ultimately leads to his demise.
But it’s not just the story alone that makes Sweeney Todd by itself memorable. It’s the complex, gorgeous score. From Leitmotifs, to Chromatisisms everywhere, to songs littered with well written lyrics and rhythms in meters other than four-four, you name it, it does it. The songs are the most difficult part for any performer in a Sondheim musical, but they are the most enjoyable part for the audience. Sweeney’s songs are also really varied from the powerful “Epiphany” to the tender “Not while I’m around” to the more humorous “Worst Pies in London.”
The cast is more of a Burton-ish cast than what you would expect of a musical film, so many of the leads are given difficult music with little to no music background. But, for the most part, they pull off the music pretty well and act even ten times better. Johnny Depp performance as Sweeney Todd is very, very strong. I did watch the stage adaptation filmed for TV with George Hamm-er-Hearn as Sweeney. Comparing the two, Depp is quieter, more subtle, and only rages occasionally. Many audience members and even actors watching or performing Sweeney focus too much on the bloodlust but forget that’s its due to the loss of the woman who was “his reason and his life” and the separation of his family. Depp obviously has the bloodlust and the obsession, but he balances it out with that grief that is the reason behind Sweeney’s actions. I loved Depp’s body and facial expressions most of the time. I don’t like it when he just stares off into the distance looking all broody (the squealing of the fan girls of attractive sociopaths can be heard in the distance if you listen carefully enough). But with his own body and face, you can tell what he is thinking, or feeling or planning. His Sweeney is both powerful and pitiful, both child-like and threatening. His voice is too much in the style of Rock for the role, and he does have problems with vowels and pitches that sink (“they all deserve to diiiie”), but he sounds so heartfelt and in character, it’s not that bad.
Helena Bonham Carter plays Mrs. Lovett, she does display the kookiness, amorality, and maternal sensibility that is required for the role, but also adds some sass and sarcasm, she is at Sweeney’s side, but personally doesn’t care for the revenge business. Like Depp, she has problems with pitches and vowels, but she manages to handle this very musically difficult role. She’s a great actress, and musically not great, but not horrible. Alan Rickman plays Judge Claude Frollo-um, I mean- Judge Turpin, a villain who is slimy, evil, disgusting, but all in the name of the good of the community with a library of porn. His evil henchman, played by the typecast evil henchman himself, Timothy Spall, is, again, gross and evil all in the name of justice. But Spall’s singing of “Ladies in their Sensitivities” was robotic, bland, and choppy. It was flat out the worst singing in the film. Jaime Campell Bower plays Antony as naïve and idealistic, but not an idiot, with a lovely voice. Jeyne Wisener plays the teenaged Joanna and instead of making her character silly and vacant, she makes Joanna isolated and troubled. Her portrayal fascinated me, and I wish the film would have had more of her. Their love is typical first-sight romance, but the film takes it seriously. Sacha Baron Coenn is funny as the flamboyant Pirelli, but it is a rule that the more over the top Pirelli is, the funnier his character is and he could have used much more. Ed Sanders actually made an adorable and likeable Toby, even though the typical age of the character was shot down. But his characters age makes his actions at the very end make less sense than the stage version (which, I will not spoil, if you don’t already know).
Burton’s style of directing fits Sweeney perfectly. It’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have been able to pull it off. He manages to make a melodramatic story smooth and quiet, but still keep the drama and thriller aspect. But sometimes, the directing is too subtle, too dark and too quiet. It could have had more humor and light, which the stage show itself managed to balance. But Sondheim is not easy to put on, and what Burton did, he did wonderfully. He understands the heart of the story, but tells it in the style of an old horror silent film.
Speaking of style, I love the costume and set pieces of the film. It frees itself from taking place strictly in early Victorian England, but instead sets itself in Burton world, where dark colors, quirky materials, and Goth styles are supreme. The set and costume of this film in particular is extremely detailed. For example, did anyone notice the numerous dolls in Mrs. Lovett’s sitting room and the portrait of her with her late husband over the piano? Or how the Beadle tips his hat at an angle to show how twisted his character is? Did anyone notice the beading and layers of Mrs. Lovett’s costumes in particular? Or the cot in the back of Sweeney’s shop that likely serves as his bed? This is a whole other world, a world that I just want to jump in and explore.
But the film is not without its problems. As an adaptation, comparing the stage and screen, it feels like a lot was cut. I understand that the “Greek Chorus” wouldn't work in a film as well as in a show, and that some songs like “Kiss Me” were too complicated or misinterpreted a character or whatever. But sometimes it feels as if we are getting the crust, but not the actual bread. With the stream of events, the film also has a tendency to feel rushed, not giving the audience a second to soak in what had just happened. Like I mentioned before with Burton’s style, the film sometimes seems too dark. It’s not that the show isn't dark. It’s dark, but has plenty of fun moments. If the “fun” had been played up more, there would have been a stronger balance without either side being distracting.
Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is not an exact bulls eye, but it comes extremely close. The darkness in it can be overwhelming and though there is a sense of humor, there’s not enough of it. The stage version is by all means brilliant, so the good parts that were cut out leave ginormous holes. Many of the actor’s performances in their singing skills could have used work or have been replaced with actors who were also more trained as singers, but it is still a darn good movie musical. Other than the phenomenal sets and costumes, there are great actors who all suit their parts. The revisions and extra scenes add on to the piece and make it work as a film without hindering the story, which by itself is wonderful. Although Sondheim’s work was not performed perfectly, his genius is still bright and present. However, due to its dark, tragic material and the amount of spewing, ketchup looking blood and violence in the film, it is not everyone’s cup of tea. If you are madly in love with the stage show and are a purist, then odds are you will not like it. But if you are like me and are a sucker for the dark stuff, love the show without being a purist, and even if you are a Tim Burton fan and think musicals are at least okay, then feel free to attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.
