Sweeney Todd (2007 movie)

[oyceter]

Summary: LOVE.

Slightly longer summary, with the caveat that I have only listened to the score a few times and watched the DVD of the George Hearn/Angela Lansbury version. I love the show, but from more of a distance than people who are longtime Sondheim and/or Sweeney fans:

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman singing do not make me want to shoot myself and are actually good at times, though you definitely notice the difference between them and the people who play Anthony, Johanna and Toby. All three of the former have some trouble with the high notes, though they deal mostly by fading away instead of wavering or squeaking.

I am amazed that the movie is only a little over two hours. It moves very quickly and I never felt like I was being shuffled from plot point to plot point via horrific exposition, like I do for many book-to-movie adaptations (*cough*GoldenCompass*cough*). I was very satisfied with what they cut and what they kept, though I do miss the factory whistle.

Tim Burton also remembers that this is a movie; I think it is one of the better or the best adaptations from Broadway to film that I've seen, but again, I'm speaking very much as an amateur watching. For purposes of comparison, I love the Chicago adaptation but not as much as this because it takes away Velma's voice, and while I like Rent, I like it because it is basically the show on film (it's hard for me to compare others like West Side Story, My Fair Lady and etc., since I've only seen the film versions).

Spoilers

I love how the movie is distinctly Tim Burton while also remaining Sondheim; though I missed the Angela Lansbury and George Hearn versions of Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are interesting as well. Carter's Lovett is much more tragic and less out-right funny, though "A Little Priest" remains hilarious, and I LOVE how they did "By the Sea," which had me in stitches.

Burton cut pretty much all the chorus pieces; there's a little bit around "God, That's Good" with the beggar woman/Lucy singing, but other than that, the movie's all the character pieces. I sort of miss "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," but I think it was the right thing to do for the movie. The only thing I'd argue with is that the final "forgive and forget" that Sweeney sings to Mrs. Lovett before tossing her into the oven is less significant because we didn't get the choruses of "never forgive, never forget" earlier.

Oh, the other bit that had me wondering was if people would pick up on the beggar woman being an important character, as she gets to sing and seems completely inconsequential. I think if someone were really paying attention, it might give something away, but I went with a friend who didn't know Sweeney, and he didn't notice, so good!

I felt most of Anthony and Johanna's numbers were cut, particularly Johanna's. "Green Finch and Linnet Bird," "Johanna" and reprises, and "No Place Like London" are still there, but I don't think they ever sing together. It'd be a little weird, except I don't care about all about the two of them, and I think I actually liked Johanna better in the movie because she trilled less.

I wish I knew more about music and more of the score to notice if leitmotifs and whatnot were cut and how it affected things. I did notice that Lucy sings "beadle beadle beadle" to the tune of the mad masquerade music in the film, and my ear is still not good enough to know if her singing to Anthony was a play on "Poor Thing" or "The Barber and His Wife." I am guessing it was.

Character wise, cutting Anthony and Johanna's duets made them both seem much less gormless, which is an improvement to me. They're not as funny, but they're also on screen less -- I sort of miss the lampooning of your usual soprano/tenor leads, but not that much. It also made Johanna ten times more interesting to me. She's set up from the start as a tragic figure, and she's never portrayed as silly, unlike in the musical. Yoon, if you're reading and interested, I think Anthony and Johanna in the movie do much less vibrato, which I so did not protest. Johanna's voice is very thin and high and delicate, but in a way that sounds like she could have a powerful voice if she let it out, unlike Helena Bonham Carter, whose thin-ness sounds more like she is not trained.

Anthony is still boring to me, though casting Johanna and Anthony younger again makes them seem less gormless and more just young and stupid (as opposed to the DVD, where the close-ups make it so you can tell Anthony's actor is older). I am also sad that Anthony gets to sing a lot more than Johanna, but I feel Johanna outacts him even while completely silent. Also, Johanna looked perfect -- tiny and peaked and bird-like, while Anthony was a little too pretty for me. The one thing I really missed was Johanna's hilarious line in the end about being married. Well, that and Johanna going mad. And Johanna shooting the constable.

Er, anyway. I have spent much text on them, but they're actually very sidelined in the movie.

I adore the casting of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Of course, I was predisposed to. And thankfully, their singing did not make me want to strangle something. I think Johnny Depp tried too hard to get the notes right, so some of Sweeney's songs aren't as properly growly as I feel they should be, but I loved "Epiphany," which was growly and angry and creepy. Ditto with Carter; I think some of her songs could have had more character, but oh well.

I didn't think Alan Rickman was slimy enough as Judge Turpin, especially compared to the very stylized versions of Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett, Johanna and the beadle (bwahaha! Peter Pettigrew is the Beadle, you have no idea how much this amused me!). I wanted something just a little more over the top to match the rest of the film.

Toby's played by a kid in this; I am not sure if this is how it usually is, since the DVD I saw had Toby played by a man (right?). This Toby's more a bright kid than a simple man, but that made the final scene creepy in a different way -- I don't think he goes mad, but I liked the juxtaposition of a kid slitting Sweeney's throat. It's a more straightforward type of creepy, but still creepy.

Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli is awesome.

As for the visuals, all I can say is GUH.

(I briefly thought while watching that Tim Burton should film Cain Saga/Godchild, but then my head exploded.)

Even though the blood is deliberately fake-looking, I still winced at all the gushing. I love love love love love the stylization. I love the color palette and the way Depp and Carter look like broken Victorian dolls with their white-powdered skin and shadowed eyes. I love how it allows Burton to play his best visual joke ever with "By the Sea" (I don't think I've ever been that startled to see a blue sky before).

I love all the windows and cages -- Johanna behind hers and Sweeney behind his in the garret, Johanna's bird cages echoed later in Mrs. Lovett's shop. I love how demented Mrs. Lovett's dresses are. I love the way the garret transforms from the warm, sunny alcove in Sweeney's memories to the faded and broken-down room with the creepy doll looking like a dead baby in the covered crib to the stripped-down and utilitarian barber shop. I love the sequence of Sweeney building the chair. I love how his razors are one of the only untarnished, shiny things in the movie. I love all the mirrors and the cracked reflections, slivers of faces seen in the razor blades, spiderweb fractures across Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett's mad eyes.

So, has anyone else posted on this? I am dying to read more commentary, particularly from people who know Sondheim better than me!

Comments

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I didn't do a big post because I walked into Sweeney Todd with no knowledge of the musical. My boyfriend has seen the show a few times though and pretty much said the same things that you did. I liked Johny's/Helena's singing enough to buy the CD and he sent me some MP3's of the Lansbury performance. Though honestly listening to them makes me want to find footage of Mrs. Potts from Beauty and make a really cracked out music video. But I did get to hear the creepy whistle and am sad it was cut.

[oyceter]

Oh interesting! What did you think of it? My friend walked out and said something like, "If I had to choose one thing in my life to give me PTSD, that would be it."

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I liked it quite a bit! As much if not more than Hairspray. I know they are completely different productions but I also burned the Hairspray CD and even I catch myself twinging at Amanda Bynes a few times. The Sweeney CD has no twitchy parts and parts still make me laugh out loud. (Though I noticed I am prone to skipping "These are my Friends".)

Unlike many people I was really iffy about the acrylic red blood. I know it was a stylistic choice, and by the end of the movie one I enjoyed, but I remember being doubtful at first. I found Anthony/Johanna pretty boring, but necessary so I am glad they cut a bit of it out. I was able to put the beggar woman thing a little sooner than I liked as well. I thought the rape scene was eerie and well done because you knew exactly what was happening without showing it. My only other "problem" I has was the kind of wonky CGI in the first few minutes of the film. I have seen quite a few people on my list say it was too gory, especially the montage at the end, but I thought it was really humorous, and was glad to see the spurting and gushing improve by the end of the movie.

So, I guess a very long-winded answer to say I like it a lot and will be adding it to my collection when it comes out. (A rare occurrence for me.) However I admit I do not have much experience with musicals, but I plan on exploring the genre more after liking Sweeney and Hairspray so much!

[oyceter]

Yeah, I didn't really like the wonky CGI at the beginning either.

I am really tempted to get the Sweeney CD now!

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I had a gift card so I got the deluxe edition or something equivalent.My favorite track is still a little priest. Though I also went to the library to order a copy of the 2 dick Broadway Landbury/Cariou to listen to as well.

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Yes, the big love! And I love your review, because it let me see the movie again through fresh eyes.

[oyceter]

I am tempted to go back and watch it again, despite the fact that the ending always is a little nausea-making.

Maybe this time I will watch it not right before dinner...

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

>Oh, the other bit that had me wondering was if people would pick up on the beggar woman being an important character, as she gets to sing and seems completely inconsequential.

FWIW, I'm not familiar with the story and I had her pegged as the wife well before the midway point. (At least, I don't think I'm familiar with the story. I did anticipate pretty much every plot point, so it's possible that I knew more than I realized, coming in.)

What are Anthony and Joanna supposed to be like? They both seemed completely vacant to me; I couldn't have done with much more of either of them.

(That said, I did enjoy the movie. Very gruesome. Hurrah!)

[oyceter]

Oh cool! What tipped you off?

Anthony and Johanna in the version I watched had more duets together -- I think there's a very twittery one when they first meet, and a few reprises. My favorite part is when she's gone mad in the asylum and sings something like, "Married tomorrow? You said that three months ago and now look!" They're still completely vacant, but the musical seems to poke fun at them more, if that makes sense? A lot of their music is very... twittery and really funny when juxtaposed with the darker stuff.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Just that she kept coming back, I think.

She goes mad in an asylum? AWESOME.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I suspected the repeated coming back and singing could give it away. She's mostly disguised in the chorus in the musical version, so she doesn't stand out as much there.

She goes mad in an asylum? AWESOME.

Yes! It's great.

[sanguinity]

In the show, they're both incredibly young and naive, to the point of seeming complete ditzes. And no, not a lot is done with them, but that's rather the point: they're pawns in someone else's drama.

Early on, Joanna is scattered-brained with terror about the Judge, and thus she grabs her very first opportunity to get away without questioning what she's jumping into. The love duets that Joanna and Anthony sing alternate between Joanna panicking about the prospect of the Judge catching them (while Anthony desperately tries to get her attention), and (when he does manage to catch her attention) the two of them singing lyrically about how theirs was love at first sight. There is a telling moment when they're planning their elopement and Joanna sings, "I loved you even as I saw you, even as it does not matter that I still don't know your name..." Which I think sums that all up.

Joanna has gotten much cannier by the end, but it's the canniness of having been failed by her saviour and having lived through consequences every bit as bad as what she was supposedly being saved from. The canniness is more implied than explicit, and it's not terribly clear if she's sane or not, but there's definitely a newfound willingness to question Anthony, to not do as she's told, and to worry about whether or not he's about to betray her with his incompetence a second time.

(Re insanity: if she wasn't mad by the time she left the madhouse, she was DEFINITELY mad by the time she escaped Todd. Oh, and that scene is usually played differently: Todd tries to kill her and she fights free.)

Anthony spends the show little more than a trusting, wide-eyed innocent. He never gets that Todd isn't his friend, despite clear clues to the contrary, he never gets that Joanna has been given good reason to doubt his ability to be her hero, he never suspects that he isn't the hero of that story. That all comes crashing down around his ears during the final scene---in the stage show, Anthony and Joanna burst into the cellar in time to see Toby take revenge on Todd---and you can see that Anthony is belatedly realizing that he isn't the sanctified hero, that his supposed ally is his betrayer, and even worse, that this wasn't even about him. Hero to incompetent pawn in half-a-second flat. It's hard on a guy.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Yoon, if you're reading and interested, I think Anthony and Johanna in the movie do much less vibrato, which I so did not protest.

The Johanna on the DVD version, as I recall, is pretty horrendous. The Anthony on the DVD version is Cris Groedendaal, or something along those lines, and I've always liked him. He's done a bunch of other Sondheim. (The original Anthony, of course, was a very young Victor Garber.)

I liked the movie, though I almost need to see it again to figure out exactly how I feel. I thought it really kicked into gear around "My Friends", and the end was flat-out horror that made me cringe down in my seat. The cuts felt really organic, and I honestly didn't miss much.

[oyceter]

Oh, thanks for the info! I don't particularly remember the Johanna from the DVD, except that she was very twittery and played as very vacant and I didn't like her voice.

I really want to watch the movie again! Although next time, not beofre dinner. I loved "My Friends" and I especially loved the fantasy sequence of Sweeney wandering around the streets and offering shaves to people. And "By the Sea"! "Little Priest" is usually my favorite, but oh man, the image of Johnny Depp in an old fashioned swimsuit and the wonderful deadpan!

I sort of missed everyone singing in the end with their throats cut, but then, I also really loved that closing shot of Sweeney leaning over Lucy in a growing pool of red red blood. I was really impressed with how they managed the cuts. Like you say, it felt organic, and the movie didn't feel like a direct translation like Rent did, but it captured the spirit of the original and added great Tim Burton flourishes at the same time.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can try as hard as you like to take the sexy away from Alan Rickman, but you can't do it! Not if he doesn't want you to. All they could do was give him laughably fake gross fingernails.

[oyceter]

I know! Well, I was creeped out by him, but mostly because of the role, not necessarily because of the acting.

[sanguinity]

Heya. I remembered through a conversation on coffeeandink's journal that you were also a Sweeney fan, and came looking for a review. Mine's here, if you're still looking for other impressions/commentary. I think it's hilarious that we feel exactly the opposite each other on so many points, but still were both quite happy with the film.

[oyceter]

Oh cool, thanks for the link! It's really interesting reading what Sweeney fans thought! Now that I've listened to the music a little more, I do find myself missing the ballad, just because... "Swing your razor, high, Sweeney!"